Pandemonium
by KayCay
Summary: Alex doesn't understand. He saved Manhattan after sacrificing himself to drop the nuke in the Atlantic Ocean. So why is the city coming after him? There's only one reason. Rated T, R&R. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**_I'm excited to release this story. I've got it all down and everything. I'd say it's kinda an AU but I'm not sure. In my opinion, this is how Prototype 2 should've gone, and everything I'm writing is drifting off my head at the moment so if it doesn't make any sense, then... Yeah. Enjoy Reading! :)_**

**_DISCLAIMER: Never in my life will I own Prototype. Ever. Wish I did._**

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_"One virus, three weeks, millions dead... and I was there. My name was Alex Mercer, and my work is almost done."_

He just saved the world from becoming Hope, Idaho's twin and now, he has absolutely nothing to do. His stomach growled and he placed a hand over it; he didn't seem himself. He felt empty, blank and confused. The explosion literally fucked him up but he managed to reconstruct his form bone by bone, muscle by muscle. But something was off and it scared him, no matter how hard he hid it. Something was whispering, directing him somewhere so being curious, he stepped on air, landing in a cracked crater and cars honked their horns angrily as it swerved out of the way. Eyeing the beeping vehicle, he broke into a sprint, red and black finally rippling by his legs, giving him the extra boost of speed. Elizabeth Greene was done for, Captain Cross was done for and his sister was still in a coma. He thought hard as he turned the corner, hearing Marine troopers curse at him and his nose wrinkled. _Wait, what did I do? I just saved your asses just now. This is so confusing._ The whispering coaxed him even more, telling him to run up a building and glide to the desired destination. He didn't know who it was since Elizabeth is biomass. It was unlikely to be her son, PARIAH, unless he somehow tapped into the Hivemind. That would be odd, shocking and questionable.

Nobody was around then he stopped in front of Penn Station, not even Infected. The area triggered a memory in his mind and he saw himself—the actual Alex Mercer—die right in this very place. Blinking the images away, he noticed the whispers stopped talking so he said "Guess this is the place."

Stepping inside, all was quiet and still until he saw a shadow move and he pivoted, arms rippling to his deadly claws and he heard a laugh which he thought was his own. _"Oh, Alex..."_he heard someone say and for a second, he thought he was going insane. "You shouldn't have come alone..."

"Who's there?" His face grimaced; he hated sounding so vulnerable. It did not suit the BLACKLIGHT Virus at all. He heard heels hitting the floor and turning to the sound, he couldn't believe his eyes. This man wore the exact same thing Alex was wearing but his eyes were white-hot red and a pink scar marked his left jaw and cheek. His smile was stuck on his face when he revealed himself, taking Alex's usual stance with the hands in the pockets. Mercer pointed with a claw, "Who the fuck are you?"

There was only one simple answer, "I'm you."

"That makes no sense."

"Well, _ah,_ let me put this way, Alex... Your heroic yet foolish action made the two of us."

Realization smacked him across the face, "How?"

_"I..._ I mean _you_ dropped the nuke in the Atlantic, right? _You_ didn't get out of the radius in time and ended up like bird shit on the pier. Now, as you regenerated you, the other side of you made _me._ I knew there was some evil in you, Alex. I knew you had potential."

"How is that possible?"

"You ask yourself that. Plus, you were the one that made the BLACKLIGHT Virus, not me." Okay, he was totally confused now. So, this guy who claims to be Alex hailed him here and is wearing the same clothes as him? Utter bullshit, that's what it was. There can only be one Alex Mercer running around and if that means tackling his outer demon, then let that be it. "So, what, I'm Alex and you are?"

"ZEUS. I was made to destroy the world and make a new one. I'd call it the New World... Yeah." His insane smile grew as he circled Alex, brushing his shoulder with his fingertips. "There'll only be one race..."

"What the fuck are you planning?"

"I'm planning to kill the world."

"And how are you going to do that exactly."

"Infect one being at a time, it's that simple. But since you're here, that means killing you first." He moved at unimaginable speed and Alex was unable to register his movements, finding himself pinned to a column with firm hands. "We can do this the easy way," an identical blade rested at this throat. "Or the hard way."

Alex said nothing, mixed emotions raging within. Insanity, paranoia, confusion, anger, but most importantly revenge. His demon is alive and there's nothing he can do about it except fight back until he's done for. Alex found himself being sealed with tendrils and the building rumbled and spluttered and ZEUS said "Oh, guess it's my cue to leave. Cheerio, Mercer." Walking off, he left Alex to squirm to freedom, ropes too tight to move his claws and just like that, the structure collapsed on him. "Time to play, Manhattan," ZEUS whispered and he ran up a building, marveling at the engaging environment.


	2. Chapter 2

_**I know it seems like I'm rushing a bit but I'm trying my best to slow the pace down. If you think I'm gonna add Heller in here, I might do somewhere. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

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He wheezed and spluttered as he pulled himself from the rubble, clutching his right shoulder when he attempted to move it. Gazing at the sky and somehow managing to consume a meteorologist on his mission to find the truth, he can guess it's roughly 7 in the evening. So poor Alex was stuck under there for about 4 hours. Right now, he can't get his mind around the fact that there's two of him; surely the only person that can help is Ragland. Right?

He took off into the night, relieved that nobody is awake at this time but he felt his own presence follow behind. He looked back, his mind was playing tricks on him. Gathering his recovered strength, he blurred down the streets of Manhattan and within moments, he reached St. Paul's Hospital with no hassle. Walking in was a complete different story; Ragland was holding some sort of instrument in his hand and was using it for protection. "Please," he begged. "What do you want now?"

"What are you doing, Ragland?"

"What are you talking about? You came here just a minute ago threatening me to move."

_"No,_ I didn't. I just arrived."

"You just be playing with me, Alex. You left... _Oh no."_

"What?" The black man forwarded him and grabbed his chin and the virus gritted his teeth, resisting the temptation to just consume the guy. _He_ was touching _him!_ "The scar... You don't have the scar anymore..."

"What scar?"

"You came in with a scar... Now, you don't have it anymore." Then he remembered that little talk he had with himself. Or should I say, ZEUS.

"Well, I need help."

"What kind of help?" He sounded disappointed. _What, you don't think I'm strong enough to tackle battles on my own? You're a scientist so I need your help._

"I know you won't believe me when I say this but... There's an evil me on the loose." There was a long pause that filled the morgue.

"What? How is that possible?"

"I have no idea."

"How did this happen?"

"I saved the city from mass destruction. You would've been ash if it weren't for me... But when I did, I had to reconstruct myself naturally and as I did, I was making another me. A more sinister me."

"There can't be a scientific explanation to this... It already seems hard enough to evaluate and analyse..."

"You're the only person that can help me right now... _Please,_ Ragland." Begging also doesn't suit Alex but the Doc gave in and sighed.

_"Oh,_ alright then. I'll help you," his eyes widened when he realised something. "Alex, I need to show you something before you leave." He followed Ragland through the corridors and led him to a room that got memories springing to life. Dana was lying there so peacefully, face relaxed and arms loose and he examined her expression. Then a familiar smell caught Alex's nose.

"What's that smell?"

"What smell?"

"Something's not supposed to be in here..."

"Everything's fine, Alex."

"I can tell you it really isn't... There's something that..." His eyes found a petri dish filled with a red substance and he barely saw the black dot with it. "What's in this?"

"Dana's blood... I think you can see for yourself. See that black dot?"

"Yeah."

"There's no pleasant way to say this, Mercer but... Dana's infected." He froze and slowly placed the petri dish on the desk, mind over-thinking as he watched the dot make it's way to one of the red blood cells and with it's activation energy, it forced it's way through the cell wall. Making a new home, it suddenly exploded, black engulfing the red cell and it spread... Alex had to close his eyes when he saw that. Surely it wasn't Greene's strain, although she was the one who put Dana in the coma in the first place, but that little-ass dot well known as a virus was black and not red. He put two and two together and said "What strain is this?"

"... It's yours, Alex... Did you infect your sister?"

_"No..._ No, _I_ didn't. But I know who _did_ and he's gonna pay." Just as he reached the door, the doctor asked "Who? _You?"_

Stopping but not looking back, he replied _"Yeah._ Me." and with no more words spoken, he left the morgue.

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**_I can imagine this all playing out in my head for some reason. To sum it up, basically ZEUS infected his own sister and big brother Alex doesn't like the sound of that at all. Hope everyone's liking this so far._**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Again, might seem rushed but have taken my time putting this together. So, Enjoy Reading! ;)_**

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He's been waiting days, weeks, months for something to pop up but his mind has been focused on Dana's health and the fact that Manhattan has changed. The "Mercer" Virus became more lethal than before and New York Zero-what they call it now-has been split up into three zones: the Green Zone, the Yellow Zone and the Red Zone. The Marines has somewhat vanished off the map and BLACKWATCH has also evolved, bases all over and more brutal weapons and equipment. Thinking back, he saw his own virus infect those red blood cells in that petri dish, he saw the process of becoming infected. _She won't be the same when she wakes up,_ he thought as he sat on the edge of St Paul's Hospital, with his legs swaying in the gentle breeze. _She might either consume me or just kill me with verbal abuse._

He waited for a sign, a call, a whisper, something._ Anything._ But things were dead in the Hivemind. Nobody screaming for help, nobody dying a painful death. Ever since ZEUS was born. He knew he'd be fucked if he had to tackle himself without evolving his abilities. He knows what the evil him can do, and making the _'New World'_ as he calls it won't be hard. All he needs to do is make a lot of people like him but there's a downside to the BLACKLIGHT Virus; they can only get their superhuman prowess just after they die. _Stupid fool like ZEUS is gonna infect people and turn them into Walkers... Is that right? Walkers?_

He laughed at that. Oh my god, he actually laughed. He shook his head, sneezing just after he finished his little chuckle. Then he wondered, _if I can punch someone and kill them, then why do I sneeze and it doesn't do shit? _He stood, using his hand to press him up and turned, looking his twin right in the eye. "Thought I'd find you here," he said, same smirk on his face and Alex reacted fast. His claws raked across ZEUS' torso and he hissed, using his shields to blocks the fierce strikes he received. _"Hey!_ What's up, _me?_ Having a bad day?"

"You infected Dana, you son of a bitch!" he growled at him, Hammerfist breaking the shields and his cheekbone. ZEUS staggered and smiled, wiping his face and feeling it mend itself. _"So?_ I want her to stand by _my_ side when I rule the New World. Like brother, like sister."

"You stay away from Dana, got it?"

_"Yeah,_ I got it. But I suggest you run when she wakes up," he sucked in air through his teeth, Alex's arms splashing with red and black snakes, waiting to attack on command. "She ain't gonna turn out how you expect her to be."

_"What_ did you do to her?"

"Infected her... A bit too much..." He bit his lip in guilt and shrugged and Mercer stepped forward. "You turned her into a fucking _Hunter?!"_

_"No..._ I turned her into my first Brawler. They're just like Hunters but they're my little edit. Hope you enjoy your pet, Mercer." He pounced on him but he dodged it and fled, nowhere to be seen and Alex panicked as he flipped off the building, entering it instead and rushing past Ragland, who was writing notes about a corpse. Bursting the doors open, he found her in the same place she was in the last time he saw her and watched the line on the heart monitor abruptly change tempo. The doctor frantically came running in moments later and said "What's going on?"

"I need to infect Dana." He forwarded her bed but his arm was gripped onto and he looked back with cold eyes. "And why would you do that?"

"ZEUS told me that she's gonna be some sort of Hunter... I don't know but whatever happens, I _need_ to save her."

"You are not going to infect your sister."

_"Alex..."_ a faint voice spoke and he glared at the bed, stepping to Dana's side and switching his normal sight to infected vision. ZEUS really did infect her, she's glowing orange and he said "Dana... Just don't freak out when I say this but... You're infected."

_"What?_ Are you kidding me?"

"Uh..._ No."_

"Who did it?" Her voice grew stronger with every word and Alex stepped back, worried about what might happen to her. "I'm gonna fucking kill who... Was it you, Alex?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I was me but technically, yeah."

"Oh, I'm gonna kill you when I'm out of here!"

"Listen to me first. A lot of shit has been happening ever since you fell asleep-"

_"Like what?"_

"I saved Manhattan from a nuke... But you wouldn't have realised since you were in _'dream land'_."

"Is that it?"

"And there's another me... See, I was caught in the explosion and somehow, I managed to make an evil me."

"... Okay, well done Alex. You really had me for a minute..."

"I'm being serious, Dana. He calls himself ZEUS."

"Hold on," she pointed at him lazily. "Aren't you ZEUS?"

"Not anymore. It's just Alex Mercer now... And plus, I don't have a fucking scar covering a quarter of my face. Oh, but you wouldn't know that because your _lazy ass_ was in a coma," he grinned as he watched Dana's face turn red and from all that time from being in a coma, she leapt onto him, hitting the floor and pressing her palms on his forearms. For a second, he remembered when Greene was this close to him and with her nose daringly close to his, she whispered "Never in your life, Alexander, test me like that. _Capiche?"_

"Oh my God," Ragland muttered, dropping the files he had with him and Alex widened his eyes as he realised the colour change in her eyes. They weren't silver blue like his anymore, they were red, just like ZEUS'. _"Dana..."_ he said, his voice shaking slightly. "What am I to you?"

_"Nothing..._ I know who my brother is and he definitely ain't you."

"I'm your brother, not ZEUS."

"I would know who my brother is, thank you."

"Then I'm sorry, Dana."

"About what?" The pressure loosened on his limbs.

_"This."_ With the advantage, he latched onto her throat and she let out a yell of surprise, feet not brushing the floor as Alex straightened his posture. His free hand turned into claws and gazing in his sister's innocent eyes and feeling her grasp tighten on his arm, he barred his teeth when he stabbed her and she gasped. Black and red roped around her chest and she choked and gagged and finally, he dropped her, regretting what he just done. Dana convulsed on the floor, reaching out to grab Alex's leg but fell limp and Ragland ran to her and checked her pulse. _"Alex..._ What did you do?"

"I infected her," he replied in a harsh tone and he was given a terrified look._ "Why?"_

"She believed that ZEUS was her brother..." he clenched his fists. "I wanted to change that." A figure gulped a breath of air and the two glared down at Dana, whose eyes shot open and she said _"Uh..._ Where am I?" She sat up, "Why am I on the floor?"

"Dana... You're okay."

_"Alex?"_ she jumped up and embraced it and just this time, he let it happen. "Alex... I thought you'd forget about me but you didn't... _You didn't."_

"Dana, there's something you should know..."

"What is it?"

_"Um..._ You're... Kind of infected."

_"What?!"_

"Whoa, _easy."_

"How the fuck can I be easy if I'm bloody infected?! Tell me, how did you feel when you knew you were infected, _huh?!"_

"I was an amnesiac at the time; I felt nothing."

She started pacing in circles, hands behind her head and Ragland said "Dana, I need to know if you're okay so I have to ask you some questions."

"Obviously, I'm not okay!" Alex just crossed his arms and grinned when she didnt register that she was creating a trail in the floor.

"Not psychologically, physically... Do you feel any pain anywhere on your body?"

_"No."_

"Do you feel a bit woozy or drowsy?"

"Of course not!"

"Then how do you feel?" She stopped, looking at her hands and answered "Now that you mention it... I... Feel great... Better than before."

_"Go on..."_

"I don't feel tired. _Or dizzy._ I feel like... I can tackle the fucking world!" Humming, he left the siblings and Alex tapped her shoulder and tendrils erupted from her back. Spiralling around his wrists, it threw him through the wall and she heard clattering sounds from the other room. "Why are you-_Oh my God!_ Alex... You alright?"

"Never been better," he coughed and dusted his clothes, stepping to her and held her shoulder. She stared in disbelief when she felt her skin unravel and loop, and he said "With time and focus, you'll learn how to control your biomass, Dana."

_"What's happening to me?!"_

"Exactly what I said a couple months ago. This is the BLACKLIGHT Virus... You shapeshift because of the virus. You can consume people-guessing you ain't gonna do that-and free-run without practice. Have any clothes to put on? Seeing you in a pink gown with teddy bears is creepy and a bit amusing."

"Yeah, they're in the back."

"No, I meant if you have a mental picture about the clothes you're gonna wear. This is imitated onto you already... You wouldn't wanna run around and let people see what's going on in your southern regions..." he let go and spun, whistling to the wall. "I won't peek."

_"How am I gonna do this? Do I just think and then..."_ She watched the virus generate clothes on her skin and munch away at the pink material, sighing when she wasn't in that humiliating piece anymore. She stepped back, dazzled by the aftermath but admired what she had on. She wore this tight, short leather jacket with a grey jumper and a black scarf, black trousers and ankle boots. _"Oh,"_ she heard her brother say. "Someone thinks they look fancy with a scarf on."

"Says the guy with a dress shirt..." he smirked. "Can we leave? I can't stop thinking that there's dead bodies in this place. It gives me the creeps."

"Let's go then." They walked out of the room, just to see Ragland draped on the slab, blood coating his lab coat and his eyes open. Dana gasped and stepped back, hiding her face on Alex's chest. _"Ragland's dead... He's dead..."_ she whispered, shaking her head in disapproval and he said "Wait here... I see a note." Letting go of him, he strode towards the corpse and saw the deep gash in his back, snatching the note that was on his cheek.

_'From You, To You._  
_You mess with my plans, I mess with your friends. -Z.'_

He crumpled up the paper in his hand, just wanting to destroy his other self. He killed the only guy that can help him find a scientific explanation to this, the only guy that saved his life from that fucking parasite and now everything he's done is worthless. He wanted to lash out, throw a godly tantrum, maybe even let out his devestator in the middle of the street but when he looked back at Dana, hope was restored. Hearing the wall crack beside him and fragments of plaster sprinkle onto the dead doctor, he sprinted, holding Dana's hand and making it outside, they witnessed the hospital collapse. Passers-by noticed the ruined building and Dana covered her mouth in shock but Alex had his eyes fixed on something else.

Himself.

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**_ZEUS can't stop causing chaos but then again, that's what he does. Waiting six months and watching the city around him change, Dana became another Runner by Alex's side, almost being enveloped by ZEUS' darkness. (How poetic...) Now with Ragland gone, is there still a reason to fight back?_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Enjoy Reading! :)_**

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Alex was noticeably pissed, sitting on the sofa with his arms crossed and his head back, and Dana had to distract herself by going on the laptop to scour the hard drive for files. He couldn't believe that ZEUS actually killed the only guy that can help him. Now with Dana infected, it's likely she's gonna be running with him rather than staying put. He breathed in as he reconnected himself with Hivemind, not surprised to hear his voice calling orders. _'Hello Alex... What a surprise! I was just telling the guys how I missed you.'_

He wasn't in the mood for small talk._ 'Why did you kill Ragland?'_

_'Easy. Being you, I watched you infect Dana via Hivemind, rejecting the bad, injecting the good. She was supposed to be my Brawler, my pet I could play with but you... You had to fuck my plans up. So, I just entered the morgue, told him not to scream and killed him. It was that simple.'_

_'Listen, you idiotic fuck, stay away from my family or prepare to get brutalised.'_

_'You know you can't kill me.'_

'I_ created _you..._ Even if you are stronger than me, I'll still manage to destroy you in the end.'_

_'Ha! Oh, don't push your luck there, Alex.'_

_'I don't need luck when I have power. You, _ZEUS,_ have no idea what I'm capable of.'_ He left without an reply to the statement, sitting forward when he heard the clicking of the mouse and the unfamiliar breathing rush to his ears. "Find anything?"

"I've been going in complete circles... But I found 2 files; James Heller and Hazelle Withers. It says they've both been infected with the virus, causing them to muster the biological abilities. Heller's was a GENTEK experiment but becuase of his temper, he broke out and is hunting ZEUS 'till this day. Wither, on the other hand, was also an experiement but wasn't able to leave but she shows great potential for the organisation. While he's running about, she's being held."

"Where?" he asked, standing up, hovering over her shoulder and glimpsed at the image that was contained in the clicked file. That girl had bloody bandages over her eyes but was able to keep her satin hair looking neat.

"Somewhere in the Yellow Zone... The file says that they've experimented with her so much and pushed her to the limit, her eyes were a consequence of this... Oh my God! We need to save her!"

"But what if it's a trap?"

_"Alex,"_ she turned her head to face him, "What do you do when you're in a trap?"

"Get out of it?"

_"Exactly._ Plus, being new to the virus, I'm guessing you can teach me the basics."

"Fine, I'll teach you the basics. But if you end up becoming a _fucked-in-the-head_ virus, _aha,_ don't blame me."

"You always get the blame; that's what big brothers are for." He missed having conversations like these with his sister. Before it was just straight information, no side-jokes, no outside comments. Now they can relate to each other since they are viruses, right? They may be programmed to not feel any emotion but since having the virus stored in a human body, emotions are the hardest things to hide successfully.

She stood, walking to the door but Alex stopped her by tugging on her jacket. "No, Dana. You do not leave this house by exiting the door. You jump out the window now."

Blood rushed from her face and she blinked, hard. _"What?"_

"You've gotta realise you're not human anymore. We are different compared to humans. Now, if you trust me, you'd jump. If not, you'd leave using the door. Your choice, I'm not pushing you." Alex strode to the window and placing a hand on the windowsill, the other on the frame, he hopped out, nowhere to be seen in Dana's perspective. _"Okay,"_ she muttered to herself, loosening her shoulders. "Breathe, Dana... You can do this." She ran and dived through the window, instinctively digging her fingers in the incoming wall to stop her face colliding with bricks but at the same time, had her eyes shut tightly. "Dana, you know you can let go."

"I'm not letting go!"

"I'm giving you five seconds. If you don't let go by then, I'm coming up there! _Five, four..."_ He didn't expect her to let go so suddenly and when she did, performed acrobatic spins and landed in a squat. "Tell me; did it hurt in the slightest?"

_"No..._ It felt like a one foot drop. I expected my bones to break or my ankle to twist because of the weird impact..."

"Well, with the virus, you're stronger, faster and more resistant to damage. You'll know what I mean when you get a face-load of rocket to your face."

"I can survive a rocket to the face?!"

_"Yeah..._ Well it depends, actually."

"So," they talked as they walked, pushing people from their path. Dana ended up forcing someone on the floor and Alex looked at her, wanting to laugh at her shocked face. "If I ain't as strong as you... My head could get blown off?"

"Dana, how in the world can you think like that?"

"What? I'm just asking."

"Then your answer is no. But for you to get stronger... You're gonna have to kill people."

_"What?"_

"I hate to break it to you but you have to for survival. I put it in four terms: Hunt. Kill. Consume. Become. When you consume your target, you _become_ your target. You take their form and steal their memories... We're gonna be doing that in order to cross Zones."

"You're fucking kidding me, Alex."

"I'll even show you how to do it. _Watch and learn."_ He paced faster, finding a random person and when he was close enough, covered their mouth and rammed his free hand in his back. Dana watched in horror as his victim was coated in red and black thready stuff, sucked in by Alex's body and just like that, there was one less person to worry about. "Holy fuck. What did I just see?"

"The beauty of consuming. It'll come on instinct... Now, consume someone and let's get going. I'm getting bored just standing here and not killing troopers."

_"I..._ I can't do this, Alex."

"What? Of course you can," he stepped to her and held her shoulders. "You need to remember that you are not you anymore... You're a Runner, now. A useful biological weapon that if GENTEK capture you, you'll become an experiment, just like Withers and Heller. They'll cut you open and take what's inside. Do you want that to happen to you?" He challenged her to a staring contest, silver on silver. Never did he blink once nor did he divert his eyes somewhere else, they were just stuck on Dana. She, on the other hand, cracked under the pressure and looked away, seeing Alex smirk from the corner of her eye. "No..." she said, sighing. "No, I don't."

"I'm trying to keep you safe, Dana. I don't wanna lose you."

"I know." She parted from Alex and grabbed the nearest guy and everyone else started screaming, running and dropping frantically to get away. Looking back at her brother, he shrugged and she swallowed hard before throwing him on the floor and beat him into a bloody pulp. She grunted when he consumed him, memories flickering in her mind and without noticing, she shape-shifted and when it came to looking at her hands, she yelled. _"Alex! What happened to me?!"_ Abruptly, she calmed down and asked "Why do I feel weird?"

"You've just changed your appearance... _Literally._ You have balls now. Yay."

_"I'm a guy?!_ And this day gets even worse..."

_"Let's go..."_

"Looking like this? I don't think so!"

"Then change back."

"How the _fuck-"_

"You wanna change yourself, you tell the virus to change yourself to your original state. Go on, it doesn't take a _scientist_ to figure that out."

"Well, sorry, Dr. Mercer," she spoke sarcastically, putting her palms up and he started smiling. "What are you smiling at?"

"You've done it."

"I did?" she looked at her hands again, flexing and relaxing her digits in time. _"I did._ Let's go then, can't keep Withers waiting."


	5. Chapter 5

**_Already, someone's gonna get a new ability and another joins the two. Enjoy Reading!_**

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She felt isolated, claustrophobic, lonely and bloody cold. Right now, she was sitting in a glass box, just how Greene was kept prisoner. She doesn't know why she's in here but knows why she's here; because her body contains one of Greene's unknown but resilent strains, rendering her immune to other weaker strains, even BLACKLIGHT. She slid off the table and hugged herself tighter, wandering around the little space she owned and touched the glass, black and red instantly sprouting and stretching like roots on the clear wall but no crack was heard. She tilted her head, frustration building and punched the glass, but was only able to shatter it and not snap it completely.

The sound of footsteps hit her ears and she turned, frowning when the virus warping outside the box informed her of the intruders. Two Brawlers literally jumped out from nowhere and Alex instinctively pushed Dana behind him, forming his blade and said "You must be Hazelle Withers... _Hmph,_ didn't expect someone like you to be dressed in a rather large sweater with skinny jeans and Converses."

"Let's call it being original."

"Do you mind...?"

She clicked her fingers and shooed them and the Brawlers growled in anger before storming off. "I don't know why you're here, Mercer, but I'm guessing it's for a good reason."

"Files stated that you've been operated on countless times... And have lost your sight because of it."

"That's correct."

"Then how were you able to call off your Brawlers?" Dana asked, moving from Alex's side and forwarding the glass chamber and Hazelle's head snapped at the sound of her voice. "I heard them... Meaning they smelt _fresh meat."_

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well, you shouldn't. Now, _please,_ I don't need to be saved by infected siblings. I'm fine where I am."

"Are you, Withers?" Alex said, climbing those little steps and reaching the door, not bothered to even open it. "Are you _really?_ Because by the looks of things, it seems like they're treating you like shit. I mean, I've been there, done that. They've put you through extreme porcedures and, _what,_ you're proud of that? _Well,_ I guess you are seeing as you're still breathing at this point."

"Don't you _dare shout at me!"_ she screamed as she threw her fists behind her, rage laced in her voice. "Don't try and put all this shit on me! I don't deserve to be here..._ I don't._ But because of you releasing the goddamn virus, you've made me how I am today. I didn't want to become an experiment, I didn't want my vision to vanish. The choices I make now are not mine."

"Tell me about your life story later but can you come out of there? Or do I have to drag you out by force?"

She ignored him, "And believe it or not, I wanted to kill myself because of you. But I can't because of the bloody infection."

_"Whoa._ Slow down there... Suicide is never the option."

"And who are you to tell me what's wrong? _I_ do whatever I wanna do and if you can't accept that... You're just gonna have to fuck off."

_"Okay, that's it..."_ He punched the glass with his Hammerfist, sending shards flying around the interior and Hazelle jumped him, sending them both sprawling on the floor with her fingers coiled around his neck. The grip tightened, but he refused to give in and managed to throw her off with the sole of his loafer. "It seems like you're gonna be one pain in the dick."

He leapt and blades clashed fiercely, sparks flying as they fought each other and Dana stepped back, startled by the whole event. Figures blurred and her focus was lost when she was struck across the face with a heavy hand. She rolled and recovered, looking at who pushed her and the Brawler growled, stalking closer with its glowing muscles and pinkish, hairless skin. Stepping back with her hands out, she said _"Alex...!"_

"Can't... You see I'm... _Busy?!"_

"I don't know what to do!"

"Just think about what you want. What you _need."_ He managed to get Hazelle's head and brought it to his knee, her brain mashing against the wall of her skull and she bounced off it, dropping awkwardly. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he turned and he shifted his blade to his Whipfist, reaching out to latch onto the Brawler. It roared as spikes pierced its oily skin, blade slicing through its deformed face and Dana somehow found the chance to consume it. She watched in dissatisfaction when her tendrils shot out of her back, drinking in the living matter and she climbed on it, knowing its weak point in a matter of split seconds and snapped its back. It let out a last roar of defeat just before it became stored biomass and she wobbled, groaning in distress and hugging her torso. She caught a glimpse of Alex running towards her side just before reality slipped away, entering a world of whispering and flashing images.

She never thought there would a normal person behind the monster. Jane Willows, aged 27, became infected when she was scratched by an Infected. She somehow fell into a cocoon-state, where she was surrounded by a man-sided pustule and gradually transformed into a Brawler. It's quite sad, actually, because she had her life set out already but the Outbreak and Dana took it without realising.

Falling out of the trance, she grunted and her muscles locked as her biomass started rippling and her hands felt like all the receptors in them have died. One by one, the digits shot up and turned black, blending in with her jacket, and razor-sharp claws replaced her hands and formed on her shoulders and elbows for defence, singing something deadly. Alex let out a low whistle, "Seems like someone's gotten their pair of claws."

She raised a brow, "Why do I have three fingers and one thumb?"

"You consumed your first Brawler, meaning you took its only attack tactic; it's claws. It only_ had_ four digits."

"Does that mean I have four digits now?!"

_"Not even."_ She looked past his shoulder and widened her eyes when she found Hazelle on her feet and charging the two. Her instincts reacted just as fast as Alex's, and she found herself swinging her claws and feeling it rip the woman's clothes and she rolled off her blade, coming back with a counter. Alex jumped over Dana just as she ducked, landing on one knee and tendrils erupting from both hands, shrouding the woman who struggled against the biomass. "Now you either be a good girl and stop fighting us _or_ we'll have to beat you back into unconsciousness. Your pick."

She gritted her teeth against the pressure, dual-blades oscillating back into her human limbs and the corner of Alex's mouth curled, ropes retracting themselves. "This doesn't make us friends, just to clarify."

"It never did," Dana butted in, claws materialising back into her hands. "We found you in one of the BLACKWATCH files, along with James Heller. Heard of him?"

_"Yeah,_ he's the escaped test subject. BLACKWATCH are looking for him 'til this day... Ain't surprised that they haven't caught him yet. Prototypes like us never go down without a fight..."

_"Wait,"_ Alex hushed her, eyes darting from spot to spot. "I hear something..."

"It's the troopers... How did you enter the building?"

_"Not so_ silently as we thought..."

A scowl rose up Hazelle's throat and the elevator was forced open with, revealing two super soldiers breathing heavily inside. Alex recognised them but barely; their frames were much bulkier and covered in black and grey armour, their goggles a fierce blue as well as cables running down their spines. "Super soldiers... That's just fucking _great!"_

"Oh, so if it isn't Alex Mercer and his dear sister. What, infect her too?" one of them mocked and the other sniggered childishly behind him.

_"Son of a bitch..."_ He darted, his legs flailing under him and before he knew it, Dana had caught onto his jacket in mid-step, his legs not even touching the ground but still moving.

"Don't fight them," she informed him, looking up at her brother who stopped air-running and was slouching in the hold.

"Dana, that gigantic, _deformed rock_ just fucking insulted me!"

"Then take it and be the bigger person... You can't beat them, you're still not strong enough. You do realise we're still chasing ZEUS... Would you rather stay here, kick their asses and fail miserably or exit the building with another Runner and possibly a lead?"

He growled harshly, back melting from her grasp and straightened up, wishing he could kill people with a cold stare. _"For fuck's sake, Dana..."_

"If he isn't gonna fight them," Hazelle spoke, torso rupturing at the sides and in one lightning move, two more limbs sprouted and she thumped her fists together. "Then let me _crash this party."_ One of the arms pointed at the nearest wall and the goo coating it pierced the surface, cells speeding up as it multiplied and exploded in a cloud of white smoke and plaster. The harsh hair that whipped Hazelle's hair made her look more of a weapon than before. "Time to bail, you two!"

"I'm _not_ jumping," Dana confirmed, crossing her arms and with Alex shrugging, he put one arm around her waist and the other around her legs and she squirmed. "Alex... _Don't. You. Fucking. Dare!"_

"If you wanna become a Runner, you gotta experience everything and that means falling from... 2_6, 27, 28... 29_ storeys." He walked to the gaping hole and with a blank gaze in his eyes, she gasped just before she was let out of hostility and he looked back, catching a glimpse of Hazelle practically beating the absolute shit out of Orion and dived forward. After all the times he's had to do nothing or roam the city out of boredom, he's never felt so relaxed in his life, the wind rushing past his ears and limbs wavering about without gravity being a bitch. A faint smile etched on his face as he free-fell, trying to block out Dana's screaming as they plummeted. But then came the rock-hard impact...

Or was it even the ground that met him first?

* * *

**_A bit of a fiddle but I finally intro'd a character. Might consider adding another person but that means having to edit some things. *wink wink, nudge nudge* And I just realised I ended this on a cliff-hanger. Oops..._**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Decided to add that person for more fun and chaos. Enjoy Reading! ;)_**

* * *

He advanced fearlessly through the tall building, an Evolved with his dual-blades and a blonde woman with her dual-Whipfists behind him, as sirens screamed down their ears but not because of their trespassing. The emergency power had the swaying lights flickering at random intervals but it didn't falter the moving infection, who actually seemed to be enjoying the whole kinda stealth mission. The familiar whispering became faint and the air got colder as he moved upwards, reaching a floor that was literally doused in bloody black-clad men and he grinned defiantly when he realised they tried to tame the "child" that was in captivity. Looking around, it seemed like he didn't waste time impaling troopers or making a mark on the walls, in fact there was at least more marks than he thought. This one guy killed a whole swarm of BLACKWATCH idiots. One versus twenty-six.

They stepped over and manoeuvred around shattered firearms and decapitated bodies, some still spilling blood, others with their nerves causing a limb to throb. ZEUS half-smirked when the doors holding the prisoner were hacked at, claws able to pull apart and destroy the mechanism within. Dr. Karen Archer has done him proud.

He stepped in, staring at the man on the table with his head buried in his knees. The back up lights in the room had been destroyed, torn into shards of plastic and glass. With him stood Roland and Gracie Myers, the woman with the Whipfists, and he said "Quite the massacre you pulled off out there."

"You must be Alex Mercer, the guy who killed my mother."

_"Maybe,_ but I'm not Alex Mercer." The man looked up and ZEUS immediately saw the similarities. His hair was sandy brown in colour, short and slightly spiky but neat and his skin just as pale as his. His black suit, battle-damaged but intact, red marble eyes glistening in the darkness and he stood, stepping to the demon.

_"Then_ what are you?"

"Call me ZEUS. This is Roland and Myers, my Evolved. You've been held captive for quite a long time; don't you think it's time to seek your revenge?"

The man crossed his arms, "What are you trying to infer?"

"Alex Mercer killed your mother, right? _So,_ what do you intend to do about it?"

"Kill him."

_"See?_ It's all fitting together. We could work together... _Yeah,_ if we kill him, they'll be no more difficulties in making the New World."

"The _New_ World?"

"If people are the same, they'll be no more suffering. No more conflict. No more diseases. I went around the world for a couple of days, trying to save humanity one issue at a time but it only gave me more reasons to destroy it. If there's only one race, the world would be a better place to live in."

"No struggling, no wrestling, no blood, no fleeing..." The man's eyes traveled down the shape-shifter's frame, no essence of biomass leaking out and the muscles in his face pushed his eyebrow upwards. "Shouldn't you be trying to kill me?"

"I would if I could be asked, but it'd be a waste to try and destroy a biological weapon that's already on your own side."

_"Hmm,_ I don't trust you... But I like where you're going with this. Consider me in the team, Mercer."

They shook hands as ZEUS beamed, showing off his snake-like canines. "Glad you can join us, PARIAH."

OoOoO

Alex held an ice-pack to his cheek and Hazelle tried to contain her burst of laughter while Dana went back to hacking and ripping away firewalls of such. He has never been in so much pain in his life. He's managed to make his virus resistant to BLOODTOX, he was able to recover from dropping 51 floors and landing on his back but this felt like someone had literally taken TNT and shoved it in his cheeks. He saw the chopper at the corner of his eye and then his head made a loud _'ping'_ sound when the impact introduced itself. Hazelle watched the whole thing unfold just after she got rid of Orion and laughed hysterically. "I don't know why you're laughing," he growled, fire sizzling on the right side of his face.

"I still can't believe how you managed to hurt yourself free-falling. Are you sure it was the chopper's rotary blades or the chopper itself? Falling at that speed, the rotary blades would've been enough to _at least_ break your skin, not suddenly feel like you've been kicked in the face with bricks."

_"Shut up..."_ he muttered, shuffling uncomfortably in the sofa and just wanted to knock out this woman. Although blind, she really knows her surroundings. Hasn't managed to bump into anything once which pissed Alex off a bit. He really wanted her to drop so that he could cry tears of laughter. That's if he could be asked to laugh, anyway.

"Or was it even the chopper? You sure it wasn't... _I dunno..._ An Evolved with a virus-induced rocket launcher or something like that?" She smiled at herself, _"Imagine that..."_

_"Evolved..."_ Something clicked. "Know anything about them?"

"The Evolved are enhanced beings created by ZEUS in order to infiltrate BLACKWATCH and GENTEK, as well as spread the virus. There's some that can track down other infected, like us, and there's others that are untraceable. Usually, their weapons are dual-blades but there's one that has dual-whipfists."

"Are you an Evolved?" His biomass was loosening, ready to attack if she answered wrongly.

"Okay, just because I have dual-blades, doesn't automatically _claim_ that I'm an Evolved. Evolved are usually in the ranks of the two organisations... And plus if I was, you would've been dead."

"That's nice to know."

"I wasn't trying to flatter, Mercer."

_"Oh my God!_ Can you two love birds just shut up?" Dana asked, turning her head to look at the two.

"Only if she stops talking to me."

"Well, _you_ started it."

_"It doesn't matter_ who started it," she said, hands shaking in frustration and her eyes rolled, turning back to the monitor and Hazelle sent Alex the thumb-across-the-throat gesture.

"What's up with you? Did the virus change you or something?"

_"Oh,_ I'm just fine."

"You don't seem fine."

"That's because I'm not. Getting used to this is going to take time and already, I feel kinda weird using the laptop." Alex snorted.

_"Take time?"_

"So, _what,_ am I learning that fast?"

"Since you're still talking, yeah."

_"Asshole..._ And I think I found something."

"What does it say?" Hazelle questioned.

"It says James Heller, the test subject, has escaped from GENTEK's grasp and should be seen as deadly..." She trailed just as her silver eyes glittered, mouse clicking away when she found something a bit shocking. _"Shit..._ Alex, he's gonna kill you."

"Then we're gonna have to convince him that _I'm not_ the bad guy."

"And _how_ you gonna do that? Just go up to him and say _'Don't kill me. I'm not ZEUS.'_? He's avenging you because you're the reason that his family's dead."

Alex threw the ice-pack beside him and sighed, tilting his head back. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"Heller's dangerous," Hazelle told them and the siblings glared at her with their vibrant silver eyes.

"And how would you know that?"

"Because I do. You're DX-1118 and he's DX-1120, meaning his strain is much more resilient than yours. And plus, his abilities are more advanced than yours. An example is the use of the sonar skill."

_"English_ would be nice."

"The only way Heller finds his targets is by hunting and for him to hunt, he lets out a viral sonar pulse that cloaks the world in red; they call it 'pinging' as the sound is a bit... _echoic._ Only he and maybe some others muster that kind of power."

"Well, fuck me then."

"And because he was a Marine," Dana continued, scrolling down the page. "His fighting skills are much more heightened, increasing his reflex time and being able to dismember any Infected. Going from Walkers... All the way to Goliath things. Last time he was seen with a Goliath, he chopped it into meaty chunks and ripped its head off."

"Where is he?"

"Yellow Zone, tackling troopers on a regular basis. Are you sure you wanna meet him? He might kill you but also, it can improve your abilities."

"If were gonna have him on our side, might as well. ZEUS killed his family; I'd be just as pissed as him if I was in his position. You're coming with me, Dana." Being himself, he left without further discussion.

"What? What about Hazelle?"

"You two go," she insisted, pushing herself off the wall and sitting in the exact place Alex had once occupied. "I'll stay."

"You sure you'll be fine?" Dana asked, slight concern on her face. "Your vision's impaired. I don't know how you're gonna navigate around this apartment without knowing-"

_"Trust me..._ I've got blindsight. I'll be fine." Slightly nodding in astonishment, Dana walked out and closed the door behind her, Hazelle frowning when she heard feet shuffle on the roof and she darted out of the apartment at light speed, ready to tackle the enemy waiting to be demolished with edged metal and flexible flesh.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Everyone, let's just assume that Heller already knows that his daughter survived the Second Outbreak. Enjoy Reading! :)**_

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Heller screamed in anger as he swiped and moved fluidly with his claws, slashing the attacking troopers and an Evolved, who decided to attack as well. Armoured frames hit the floor with wet, meaty thuds and he roared as he drilled the Evolved head-first into the concrete. He still can't believe Mercer would try and infect the city with poisoned Whitelight. The only solution that can actually save the city got destroyed by the guy's blood culture. Now, accidentally setting off a whole barrel, the soldiers that were with him evolved, their instincts to kill Heller. Ain't surprising that two of them failed but the third was still going, taunting him as he managed to get hold of his leather jacket and throw him to incoming cars, having him crack the windshields of two.

Heller just shook his head and swapped his claws for his lethal blade, rocketing metres in the air before coming down like a flip-saw, driving his weapon in the Evolved's shoulder blade and feeling his tendrils absorb his living matter just as he rolled off. The memories haunted him as he tried to block the raging migraine and saved the memory unlocking for later.

Brushing the shards off, he took off at inhuman speeds and launched in the air, attaching his feet onto vertical walls and maintaining his balance. When he reached the top, he didn't expect Mercer to be standing on the building next to him, and he certainly didn't expect this other woman standing with him. His gloved fists clenched and his jaw locked. _This guy, this asshole, is the reason why I'm a monster. He killed Colette... Just to get to me. Fucking prick._ He glared at the woman, who shared a couple words with the infamous hooded figure and watching him nod, Heller waited for Evolved to ambush him.

Not a single glowing blade was in sight. Not a taunt was heard. Not a drop of blood was spilt. His brow arched and the corner of his mouth rose in distaste, not liking the build up of awkward tension at all. _"Heller..."_ Finally, the silence was broken. "I've been expecting you."

"I've been expecting your ass on a silver platter."

_"Huh,_ like your sense of humour but it's uncalled for."

"So is your so-called plans for taking down the organisations that ruined your life. Who the fuck do you think you're playing at?" Alex chuckled slightly as his arm curled around his sister's waist, before charging his jump and leaping into the air, unexpectedly landing lightly on the balls of his feet. Dana glimpsed at the scar running through his left eyebrow, just like in the image in the file. Swallowing hard, cold brown eyes stared down at her and she looked back at them with silver ones, Heller's brow arching again.

"I'm just Alex Mercer."

Heller's hands changed in an eye-blink and Dana didn't see him attack until Alex had to avoid a barrage of ground spikes by dive-rolling. _"Where's Maya!?"_ he yelled at him, slapping the air with his palms and sending Alex off his feet. He redeemed his balance, fixing his jacket and just after, put on a questioned look.

"Hold on... Who's _Maya?"_

"Don't fuck about with me, Mercer! _Where_ is she?" Dana finally decided to speak up.

"He's not the Mercer you're looking for."

_"Listen,_ I don't know who or what you are but stay out of this."

"My name is Dana Mercer, I'm his sister." He glanced over his shoulder before moving away from Alex, instead closing in on Dana and she stepped back as he came closer. "Whoa, _whoa._ Heller, I'm telling the truth... He is _just_ Alex Mercer... Not the 'Mercer' that kidnapped your daughter." He lured her to the edge but she showed no fear, no panic, just a slight smirk. He stopped: he knew how tall this building was so pushing her off the edge really isn't an amazing idea unless she was infected, which was possible considering the fact that he saw her biomass shudder. He stepped back, startled, as she said "Look, I know it seems like a massive cluster-fuck but if you listen to me, we'll help you find your daughter." A growl bellowed from the former Sergeant's throat.

"I don't believe you." His boots tore the hardened cement as he ran, landing on ground level seconds later and everything happened so fast. A car crashed into him but he caught it in mid-flip and tossed it back to its sender. Alex dodged and hurled another, this time hitting his torso dead on and Heller grunted as he tumbled with the car, ending up on its bonnet. He slid off, frustrated, and as red smoke fluttered off his jacket his Brawler Pack were already by his side.

_"Shit..."_ Alex swore, biomass looping about his right arm and created his blade but just as they were about to clash, Dana ran in between the two sides.

"What the fuck do you think you two are doing?!"

"He's pissing me off!" Heller informed her, Brawlers roaring beside him at his change in feelings but they stopped as Dana looked at them, as if she opposed a potential threat to them.

"Well, I fought you out of boredom. Since you're _that_ observant, what did you see on ZEUS that I clearly do not have?" The black man glared at the Caucasian, eyes fluttering on the top half of his figure and spotting not a single difference, Alex threw his hands up in impatience and said "Look at my face. Do you see any scars? Scratches? Marks... Possibly _scars_ anywhere on my face? That's right Heller, feel stupid."

"Alex, shut up! Heller, we can help you if you help us."

"Only if you explain what the fuck is going on."

"There's two Mercers running about. My brother... and _ZEUS."_

"Who the fuck is ZEUS?"

"Alex's twin, I should say. He saved Manhattan from a nuke by dropping it in the Atlantic but almost killed himself doing so. As he recreated himself, he created the darker, sinister side of him," she stepped to her brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "My brother was always a good man..."

"He unleashed the goddamn virus at Penn Station. How does that make him a good man?"

"Because he didn't go around New York Zero, slaughtering families for the sake of it! He stayed by my side until I woke up, and saved my life from becoming absolute misery. I would've been fucked if it wasn't for him. Literally."

_"So,_ the point is?"

"You're trying to find and kill ZEUS, not Alex. Right now we're trying to track him down but we need your help, seeing as you avenge him just like we do."

"Alright then... But I swear to God Mercer, if I turn my back for one second and I see you try to touch me, I'm gonna break your fucking jaw. Got that?"

_"Oh, I'm so scared," _Alex spoke in a high-pitched voice, shaking his palms before laughing. "Give me a _break,_ Heller. We've only just met and already you're on my case. And fix your face; you don't want it staying like that when the wind blows."

"Dana, please tell your brother to shut up before I kill him myself."

"Okay, both of you, just stop. You're acting like annoying little brats. Now, we are going to help each other, whether you like it or not. _So..._ Heller, call off your Brawlers and Alex, lose your blade before I do it myself." Hearing him growl again and not being able to decline her order, he pointed at a random subject and his pack ran to it, exploding into gooey tendrils on impact just as Alex scowled, human limb returning. The two male Runners stared at each other, realising that their only weakness is their family.

* * *

**_Had to read about their personalities before writing this, otherwise I would've been so lost and confused. _****_A bit short but I couldn't carry on; I've been so unwell lately. I've tried not to stress myself out but I'll put more detail in the next chapter, I promise!_**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Let's add another character but she (it's a she) may not be what you expected. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

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The lady with the piercing green eyes, raven hair and chocolate skin walked at ease towards her contact with her short black sculpted vest, tight leather pants that held her combat belt, matching fingerless gloves and a short tank top. He couldn't help but admire how her battle uniform adapted to her flawless curves, but pushed the thought away when it got too provocative. She sat on the bench with an elbow up on the backrest, being handed some files from the man beside her. He leaned forward, raising a brow when he spotted her knife peeking out of her lace-up boots. "Talk about standing out, Phase."

"I don't know why you called me," she said, with supreme but mature American vocalization "And I don't know why you're making me do this... Killing ZEUS and friends is literally impossible. The only thing that can kill him has been infected by his blood culture."

"I'm asking you to do this because agents around the world are telling me you can do _anything_. BLACKWATCH can't take him down, nor will GENTEK."

"I don't know why I agreed to this shit... _Seriously."_

"You are the best there is."

"But I'm not fit for this kind of thing. I'm a hired assassin. I do... _Assassin_ things. I do cosplay, go incognito and use snipers, _not_ run like a headless idiot with an assault, spraying whatever isn't normal because I'm a mysophobe."

"You're Manhattan's only hope. If you don't do this, every single person in this city will be fucked." She thought for a moment, dodged a lazy swing from the same Walker that tried to attack her 10 minutes ago and sighed, shooting it in the head.

"Fine, _fine._ But I can't do it alone."

"It's all up to you and the League of Shadows. This city's fate is in your hands."

"Oh, _please,_ don't give me all that fantasy bullshit. If I save the city, I save the city. If not, then everyone that's not infected dies a horrible, painful death. I can't promise good results."

"Just do whatever you can, Phase."

She smiled at the man before she pushed herself off the bench, stuffing her pistol back in the holster strapped around her thigh. Getting her phone out, she pressed some buttons and held it to her ear. _"League,_ we've got a new objective. Our new target is Alex Mercer, I need men scanning the YZ and RZ for him, pronto."

_"What about you?"_ Her eyes glittered red for a brief moment, seeing her heads-up display come to life.

"Guess it's time to embrace the shadows... I'll send updates whenever possible."

_"Roger that."_

OoOoO

The apartment was too silent for infected adults with the approved license to kill. Alex squeezed himself in the smallest corner on the ceiling, arms and legs crossed, and Heller just stared at him, wanting to rip him from there and throw him out the window but Dana's presence prevented that from happening. Hazelle walked in the apartment whistling, but stopped dead in her tracks when she sensed another BLACKLIGHT in the room. But the first thing she noticed was Alex's position. "Alex, what the hell are you doing on the ceiling?"

"Making sure that he don't get his ass whipped," Heller answered and she slightly jumped.

_"James Heller..._ Didn't expect you to be here."

"Me neither."

"Dana, how did you do this? How are they in the same room?"

"All I said was if they don't help each other, they jump to the Atlantic and back. And I know Alex is a hydrophobic." She heard him growl and turned towards the noise, seeing his eyes lit up with anger and giggled.

"Why's Heller here?"

"We... Well, _I_ offered that we help find his daughter, Amaya. ZEUS has her and has gone dark in all zones. Right now, I'm hacking into BLACKNET terminals, just in case I get something."

"Can I suggest a cause of action?"

"I'm all ears."

"You know how GENTEK created BLOODTOX to pick out infected beings? They're creating another one with a much more stronger base. It's still A1-33 but with Variant B. My guess is that BLACKWATCH will deliberately spray it in the RZ, draw us out and try to kill us on sight."

"And where did you get this intel from?" Alex asked, twisting his body and landing on his feet, brown, hateful eyes still drawn on the first Prototype and he heard mumbling echo around the room.

_"Fucking dickhead infecting me... Like I wanted to be infected..."_

"Hey, hold it right there, Heller. I didn't infect the city with the BLACKLIGHT Virus."

"So, _what,_ you a zombie or some shit?"

"I was always dead. I'm not Alex Mercer for fucks sake, I just took his name, his form, his memories, _everything._ How can_ I_ unleash myself in Penn Station? Dr. Alexander Mercer unleashed the virus and died because of it and plus, ZEUS created the Second Outbreak, not me. So before you start jumping to conclusions, check your fucking facts first." The Marine just couldn't take no more and stood up, all up in Mercer's face but the virus smiled under his hood, not really taking in the insults and cusses.

"Now, you listen here, bitch..." Dana managed to place herself inbetween the two and gritted her teeth when the two were shouting in her ears.

"Both of you, just shut the fuck up! _Please!" _Heller scowled and sat back down and Alex laughed under his breath and moved away from his sister, who shook her head and glared at Hazelle, who had stopped talking to watch the event. "Sorry, Withers, carry on. Where did you find this information?"

"From the Evolved I attacked. It seems like ZEUS is one step ahead of us; if he takes the whole lot, he'll use it on us and we'll die of cell mitosis."

"Where is it?" Heller asked this time, diverting his attention to the other female Runner.

_"I'm getting to that part..._ There's a BLOODTOX Depot in Fairview. Right now, they're planning to deploy emitters about the Yellow Zone; if we get there in time, we could destroy the depot and infect the toxin, leaving it harmless to us."

_"Or,"_ Alex butted in, holding his index finger in correction. "Maybe we could just destroy the emitters and grow a resistance to the toxin. Sounds much smarter than wanting to_ 'accidentally'_ infect every other citizen in the Yellow Zone."

"Oh, shut up. I was thinking on my feet... Loser."

_"Now I've got a whole house of grown-ass babies..."_ Dana said to herself and she stood, dusting her clothes. "We could either go right now and take care of the emitters or stay here, arguing about pointless bullshit and wait until the improved BLOODTOX is deployed in the RZ and we're on the floor withering like dying flies!"

_"That..."_ Hazelle spoke weakly after a minute of frightening silence. "Didn't create a beautiful picture in my head."

"And you guys are still standing here? Let's go! We don't have much time." Dana marched out the door and Hazelle followed behind like a lost puppy and Heller found the chance to finally throw Alex out the window, glass exploding on human impact and the black man chuckled. Sighing, he strolled to the window and sighed, feeling claws hook onto his jacket and he was snatched from the room, hammering into the wall in front and hearing another cruel laugh chime in his ears as he descended with a couple of vandalized bricks. Heller never thought he could despise and loathe Alex so greatly, even if he wasn't the Alex Mercer that changed his life. I mean, of course he didn't have red eyes, have a scar and act like a complete asshole but there was something about him that... _I dunno..._ he liked about him. Actually, no, _like_ is a harsh term. Approved, something about him that _approved_ of his presence. But only for now.

* * *

**_Oh wow, it's another short chapter again. Sorry! Yeah, just had to confirm the whole 'Alex' thing._**


	9. Chapter 9

**_I have a confession to make... Being a full-of-violence writer, I can't really write a detailed fight scene to save my life. So here goes absolutely nothing. And Rift, your wish has been fulfilled. Enjoy Reading! ;)_**

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"I don't smell anything that's not meant to be there," Heller spoke as they walked through the streets of Oakhurst, following the pair of girls in front with Mercer by his side. People had actually stopped and acknowledged their presence, expressing it by pointing, screaming and running away. But then again, what normal citizen would react in a normal way if they saw ZEUS and others walking calmly on the road? They might just be walking but any wrong move and you're crushed bones and that's what happened to the troopers who got a bit too close to Heller while they used the Airbridge. As they reached Fairview Dana's face grimaced and she coughed, having the rest of them turn their heads to look at her.

"Well," Hazelle said after taking in obvious evidence and shaping her hands into her dual-blades. "Guess we're near it... The emitters should be surrounded by black sitting ducks on the rooftops. Dana, you're with me, Heller you're taking _weird guy_ over here. Once that's over, we go to the depot and take care of the rest."

_"Hope you're talking about yourself,"_ Alex murmured, eyes shining darkly but when he went to reach for her hair, he found himself on a random rooftop and blinked. "What the—"

"Come on, Mercer, _time to go!"_ Heller shouted, leaping into the air and performing the famous air dash and the demon grinned, skipping across three buildings before joining in the slaughter. The pair grunted as they hacked and slashed away, Mercer taking care of the troopers firing at his ally while Heller was defacing the emitter.

"Red Crown, I have order on a-" The commander's voice was crushed as Alex gripped his neck and left him to gag, before striking the top of his helmet with a palm and hearing his heartbeat falter, consuming him a second later. With one last blow of a Hammerfist and the blacks frames dealt with, grey smoke seeped out of the emitter and Alex choked violently, holding his throat and Heller was forced on his knees alongside him.

"What the fuck is in that?" Heller muttered, finding the chance to get back on his feet and roll his shoulders.

"I don't fucking know!"

A couple blocks away, Dana had gotten used to her claws, not freaking out when she killed her third batch of troopers. She just needed to realise that she was a Runner: a biological weapon just like the others. Enhanced hearing, incredible speed, unlimited supply of stamina... Sounded like immortality to her. The gnawing irritation hit her again and her face cringed, hand over the mouth to protect her from inhaling the toxin. Something moved and Hazelle bounced on the rooftop, rolling before letting out a long grunt. "Holy fuck, that hurt."

"What is it?" she asked, trying to diffuse the gas into the air by flapping the floating particles around her.

"A Juggernaut..." the Runner replied, getting on her feet and dusting her clothes off. "Slow to attack but pack quite the godly punch. Don't wanna be so close to those fatasses."

_"A whaa?"_ The building shook and Dana gasped, revealing her new enemy and her heart sank completely. It's plump yet firm body managing to stay up on its chubby legs and mighty arms with his knuckle-spiked Hammerfists, ready to attack and deflect anything. Its jaw, separated in three places and red muscles giving it's oily, grey skin the appearance of molten lava ready to disintegrate anyone willing to touch it. It beat its chest once in a threat, letting of a sort of strangled gargle afterwards. _"Oh. My. God."_

"To get the Hammerfist power, you need to consume that."

"You're not joking."

"If I was, would I have to do this?" Silver eyes widened when it witness her acquaintance gritting her teeth, looking like she was ready to unleash a devastator. But instead of shooting out tendrils or launching groundspikes, her back started mutating and Dana watched in horror as what appeared to be claws stretched out of her back like Freddy Kruger's knife-hand. Glints of silver, black and red started showing and the claws extended, making even more blades and when the whole process was complete, the sister of the Mercer virus stepped back.

They looked pretty cool in fact, but the way it was designed and detailed gave it the infectious impression. The shape of angel's wings but the insignias of a demon's and it glimmered red diagonally, like a shooting star flying through the night sky. Her dangerous wings stretched out in arrival, the sound of metal grinding delicately against each other and Dana just had to say something. "How did you get that?"

"Consumed a bunch of Flyers... _You know?_ Them infected birds that go kamikaze on your ass if you get too close. There's ain't clawed but _I_ got the variant."

She raised her hands quickly before dropping it, "And how the fuck is this gonna help us?"

"I'm the distraction; you fight it while I piss it off. Good luck, Mercer." Hazelle took off, biomass floating out in a condensed form and Dana controlled her breathing as the virus altered the size and shape of her hands, including the amount of digits on each. Glaring at them, she looked back at the Juggernaut which was still standing there and charged, concrete already spitting out behind her.

The beastly thing staggered back as she leapt, simultaneously scratching it with all her might and roared, throwing a punch but missed. She came up wide-eyed and swiped again, having her hand caught in its grasp and threw her downwards, almost smashing her through the rooftop. She moaned as she rolled out if the crater, steadily standing up and the winged figure in the air ejected spikes from her wings. The Juggernaut cried out, pivoting to face Hazelle as she discharged more and Dana smirked, running towards it and swiped hard and fast. She heard it's heartbeat slow down a bit and blinked, assaulting it with charged kicks and bladed punches. It swung its Hammerfists but she flipped over it, almost being hit when the other fist went to attack her. Rolling behind it, the claws found purchase and she clawed it, watching it's skin start to lose it's normal bond and it roared in frustration.

Going for another deadly scratch, the Juggernaut blocked it with succession and slapped her away, resulting in her going airborne. Somersaulting in the air, she brought all of her power to her elbow and the whooshing sound swarmed her ears as she fell. Hazelle somehow watched, impressed, as Dana slammed back down to earth and elbow-dropping on it's head, hearing sickening cracks. "I always thought claws were useless against Juggernauts... Guess you just overruled_ that."_

She jumped on it, stamping on it's head and slicing aggressively until she felt herself consume the BLACKLIGHT monster and she dropped on one knee, a hand across her trembling stomach. Hazelle settled beside her, spikes on her wings moving to her arms and she turned her head, waiting for a reply but got none. _"Dana?"_

The woman groaned as she tried to stand upright but her hands started evolving, fists going black and red and quadrupling in size, rock-like detail extending the lengths of her arms. Spikes appeared on her knuckles, just like the Juggernauts, and when she beat them together a shockwave almost threw Hazelle to the next building. "My God, those Hammerfists... The amount of damage you can do with those."

"They're really heavy..." She impulsively slouched over, Hammerfists by her side and letting off a reddish hue.

"Which is why they're called Hammerfists. You're trading _speed_ for _power,_ and the heavier they are the more force you put into your attacks."

Her hands came back and she straightened, "Thanks for the life lesson, Withers."

She smiled, "Happy to help... I think the boys are getting rid of the rest." Dana looked out for them, catching the two cause chaos to the shooting troopers and emitters, not weakening as much when the BLOODTOX escaped into the air.

Alex and Heller joined the women and the Prototype asked "Now what?"

"Now, we go to the depot and blow it to hell."

"Huh, I can do that... How you holding up, D?"

"Fine, actually. Got my Hammerfists already."

"I knew you'd get used to this."

"Can we go fuck some shit up?" Heller interrupted them and Alex smirked, not being able to negatively reply to that.

"Why not?"

OoOoO

Disguised as scientists and troopers, Hazelle used the hand scanner and the doors opened, revealing the labs and open areas. "Okay guys," she whispered as they walked through the depot, Alex already sensing more infected beings. "We need to destroy the barrels holding the toxin but we need to stay in disguise so that we don't inhale it. This is the only depot and more might sprout on the map if we don't do something about it."

"And we better be fast about it too," Mercer added as they took the steps down to the open room holding the barrels. "I think we have company."

"Remember: stay in disguise. These are the only forms which have masks." Heller hummed in agreement, being the first to break a barrel and every other trooper protecting the BLOODTOX started wasting rounds on him. Joining in, Alex threw a barrel to a group of black-clad fools and grinned under the mask when it exploded on contact and Dana took a grenade launcher conveniently placed on a rack, having to flip in mid-air when she jumped up and pulled the trigger.

The sirens finally went off and more troopers were called to the disturbance, only for their lives to be cut short when they set foot in the room. Hazelle kicked the barrel beside her, bursting it instantly and her 6th sense found something under the grey cloud, feeling gloved hands lift her up by the throat. "Dr. Mercer wants to see you... Right now."

"I don't think so." She went to lash out but the anonymous grabbed her hands and strained her arm, having her cry out and voices called out to her. "Make a sound and I'll kill you."

"Alex!" The demon turned, changing to thermal vision and witnessing Hazelle struggling against another figure, who had her off her the ground with one hand. Without thinking, he blasted into a sprint, hopping over rails and distracting them by latching onto their leg and slamming them into the nearest wall. Hazelle was let out of hostility and as she got back on her feet and was a couple steps away from Alex, two Whipfists laced around her torso and peering at them, she screamed. He went to run towards the noticed Evolved but she stomped her feet, sending the latter soaring to the other end of tthe room.

"Hazelle?" Dana called out, running cautiously through the smoke and finding Alex sprawled on the floor. "Alex, where is she?"

When he looked at the area where Hazelle was, the figures were gone. "An Evolved took her..."

_"What?!"_

"What? You think I didn't try and get her back?"

"I knew you tried... But not hard enough."

"Hey! Don't put all this on me, alright? Of course I goddamn tried, Dana, but obviously it's my fault because she's gone."

"I didn't say it was your fault."

"But that's what you're trying to say. You're trying not to hurt my feelings by then again, what feelings do I have in which you can harm?"

_"Okay,"_ Heller cut in, pushing Dana away from her brother. "You two break it up. She might be gone but we can track her. _I_ can track her." He glimpsed at the woman, then the man then back at the woman again.

"Fine, whatever."

"And look, the barrels are destroyed now. We could just set this building alight, just in case."

"Where's the petrol?" Alex asked, standing up and flexing his fingers, gazing at the space again and widening his eyes when there was a bloody bandage, no longer than the span of his arms, drooped on the floor.

"Ain't that Withers?" He walked towards it and took it from the floor, closing his palm.

_"Yeah_, it is."

"We need to leave... And burn this place as well." Dana took a blue barrel and punched the top, pouring the contents on every available space and got the red barrel and threw it, having it combust and the flammable liquid caught on fire. The flames started spreading and the two men stared at her, receiving the shrug of her shoulders. _"What?_ I was being serious."

Heller leaned towards Mercer, voice going low as a mumble. "I think your sister is taking the whole infection thing much more calmer than I thought."

OoOoO

_"Alright,"_ pulling the pin with her teeth, she blindly threw it upwards, hearing a shout and a mere explosion. "Sending location coordinates..." She walked up to the Blackwatch corpses, scanning them with her red contacts. Hearing more cries being called, she prepared herself of what's to come.

She took cover and peered at her surroundings, and saw a Blackwatch soldier in the jaws of a virus-made Brawler. "Please! Get the fuck off—NO!" As disturbing as it seemed, she kept on looking in shock. What kind of fucking virus makes these? There was a squelching sound and her face changed to a grimace, and when the monster left, she walked out of cover almost barfing at the torn body of the soldier.

She walked into an empty alleyway, using her climbing skills to get her off the ground in a short amount of time. _"Coodinates found,"_ her earpiece responded as she was squatting low on a hidden building and watching Walkers aimlessly attack each other.

"Updating report... And..."

_"Phase, you're near Dana's Safehouse."_

"I know, but there's something off about this place. Like really off. Like BLACKWATCH's trying to purify the city... Like that's gonna happen."

_"Welcome to the Red Zone."_

"Aww," she said in a sarcastic tone, rebounding off walls and stopping when she found the correct fire exit. "I'm touched."

_"They're distracted as it is; you have at least 10 minutes to see what you can find. Anything that's significant, you take. Got that?"_

"Sure... Whatever."

_"Just watch your back while you're at it."_

"No problem... _Douche."_

_"You do realise I heard that?"_

"No, you did? That's a shame..." She opened it with little difficulty, having the gauntlet on her right arm light up a neon blue as she closed it behind her and climbed cautiously down the stairs.

_"I've gone blind; give me updates."_

"Well, it's a safehouse. What do you expect?"

_"What's in there?"_ Reaching the bottom, she found a hole in the wall, jogging towards it and tracing the cracks with her fingers.

"Something happened... Like, either someone was deliberately thrown out the window or someone came crashing through from the exterior of the building." Predicting the arc of movement, she looked ahead and saw a couple displaced bricks and poked her head out, the bricks laying shattered on the ground.

_"Phase, concentrate!"_

"Oh, right, sorry." Moving towards the laptop on the desk, she moved the mouse and the screen lit up, revealing something Phase never thought she'd see. It was two images of two Mercer, both looking almost exactly the same. "What the fuck?" Sitting down, she clicked and typed at light speed, finding more evidence.

_"Phase..."_

"You know that time I was captured and you found me but I was hallucinating and shit..." She dived into her pocket without looking, taking out her memory card and sliding it into the correct slot in the laptop.

_"How does that prove anything?"_

"Don't get me wrong but I'm seeing double. Two fucking Mercers, this ain't no joke."

_"That's why..."_

"That's why what?"

_"I've got footage of the pier from six months ago but it cut off as soon as Alex rebuilt himself... Maybe, the rest of the biomass there was to create another Mercer."_

"It just doesn't make sense... I mean, I can understand how he made two of him but why? Was it to cause the Second Outbreak while looking innocent at the same time?"

_"You're fucking kidding me."_

"Hold on a second... There's two photos, in one he has silvery eyes but in the other, it's much more of a fierce red. And there's a scar. A scar along the left side of his face... Maybe that's the Mercer we're looking for. Isn't it?" There was a very long silence that she didn't appreciate.

_"I've... Just been given more intel from BLACKWATCH. it seems that PARIAH, Greene's son, has disappeared as well as ZEUS off the map."_

"Hold the phone... Wait, which one should I call Alex Mercer and the other ZEUS?"

_"Call the one with the scar ZEUS... He looks more dangerous to mankind as he's the one creating the Evolved._"

"Okay, now you've just lost me. Completely."

_"The Whitelight that was made to save Manhattan... Well, that's what creating the Evolved. Dr. Archer purposely made it so ZEUS could infect it with his blood culture, right?"_

"Yeah, okay, I see where you're going."

_"Dr. Archer is also an Evolved... You can't trust any scientist or trooper these days."_

"Nevertheless take order from a scientist and place a hit on... Is it ZEUS and co or Mercer and co? 'Cause I'm just bloody confused."

_"Mercer and co... Plus, I've got information about the mistaken four. Seems that Dana Mercer, James Heller and Hazelle has joined the BLACKLIGHT Runner."_

"For some reason, I feel like taking the hit off... It feels weird having to take it from a scientist. I mean, I've taken hits from drug dealers, ex-hitmans, even thieves but a scientist? Hey, I might just be doing my job but weren't he being... Cautious? Demanding? Suspicious?"

_"You gonna take it off 'em?"_

"I won't take it off... I'll just improv for now but I need a couple Shadows infiltrating GENTEK... I just need evidence."

_"I'll order it."_ She felt the air suddenly grow tense and shift, but she glared at the hole and nobody jumped in and attacked her. As the hardware beeped once, she smiled victoriously as she replaced the memory card inside her pocket.

"I'll return to base and we'll discuss this further."

_"Looking_ for something, Jessica?" In one fast move the assassin stood, her life flashing before her eyes when she was confronted by Alex who held her knife in his grasp, Heller who just looked at her distastefully and Dana with her fresh Hammerfists. She glared at the hooded speaker, mentally cursing when she realised she left fingerprints on the door. Very unprofessional of her, right?

_"Phase, what the hell is going on? You've gone quiet."_

"Well, it wouldn't be a shocker if I said the residents of this safehouse are back... And they're not happy at all."

"She looks familiar..." Dana started and Jessica shot a glare at her, tilting her head in confusion.

_"Wait, what?_ Whoa, hold on there. You must have me mistaken for someone else. There's no point in creating an alias on the spot... The name's Jessica Miles."

_"Miles,"_ Alex said, raising both his eyebrows when he peered at her pocket. "What you got in that memory card of yours?"

"Oh, nothing. Just some images... I mean, if it was really important, I wouldn't be here and_ this,"_ she twirled her index finger. "Wouldn't have happened... _Definitely placed the hit on the wrong guys, Hawk."_ It was Heller's turn to say something.

"I say jump her."

_"Wait... Just wait!_ Look, if you kill me then... Then ZEUS will..._ Will... Shit,_ lost train of thought." Dana snapped her palms at the air and Jessica met the wall behind her with fatal force and she groaned, hitting the floor and cradling her stomach. Every other Runner watched Miss. Mercer in odd surprise but it wouldn't have been complete if she wasn't in shock herself. _"The fuck was that for?!"_ She pushed herself up against the wall, wheezing when her sides bit into her, burning with all its grace.

"I panicked, okay? I'm new to this; you can't blame me."

"Yeah, whatever... But no seriously, what the fuck was that for? You wanna know what's on my little card, _don't you?"_ She reached into her pocket again, holding out the card in the palm of her hand while her other arm was curled around her midsection. "You really wanna know? Here—_catch."_ She threw it towards the group and lunged fast, swinging her leg and catching the nearest Runner across the jaw.

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_**I'm not sure if Alex can automatically read DNA via fingerprints but I just threw it in there, just because I did. Yeah, her name has been revealed but how is she gonna fight all of them if they're Prototypes? There's only one way to find out...**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Short chapter, I apologise. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

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She felt hands—_tentacles_—moving on her third skin, coiling around her small frame and then the whispering of noticeable voices that rung loud and high in her ears like she had Tinnitus. She didn't know where she was, but it was the sack that had to be placed over her head that just irritated her. What was the point? I mean, _okay,_ they've taken her... That's it, really. The whispering got louder, from a whisper to a normal-volume conversation and she winced, her ears picking it up as ridiculous shouting.

And the pain just smacked her across the face and she couldn't be bothered to act human and cry out. Why is she here? It's like everyone needs her; Alex needed her to join his side on taking down his evil coordinate and now _this._ The sack was stripped off her head and she groaned as another punch was served to the other side of her face. "You better behave," spoke this sweet voice, caramel-like, and a slender finger pointing at her. "Doctor Mercer wants to see you and he doesn't tolerate disobedience."

She froze, unable to register that she was in a disclosed location. But with ZEUS. Holy shit, when life couldn't get any worse, he—out of _all_ people, she didn't even mind Greene—had to be the person that called for her. What does evil Alex want with her? Her strain? Her unknown ability?

_Her eyes?_

She shuddered at that, freezing up again when she heard the familiar clicking of metal-tipped dress shoes and it stopped, having her eyes travel up the figure standing in front of her. His face was neutral, no sense of joy or desire, what you'd expect from a true test subject. It was like he had no feelings, wanted no feelings, needed no feelings and stood tall and proud, hands in his pockets. But it was when she finally looked in his eyes she screamed, her ability wanting to overpower her senses but she didn't let it and doubled over, wanting to throw up. "You're very special, Withers," ZEUS started, kneeling towards her and holding the slant of her jaw, tilting her head up. _"Look..._ You hid your stunning, neon green eyes for so long; it hurts to look at people. What can it do?"

Her eyes started watering, but not the normal tears that normal people have, but blood rimmed and she blinked, her vision clouded by a deep red hue. She continued staring in his fiery eyes, absorbing every memory he contained in his head. She doesn't know how she can do it, maybe GENTEK did something to her that made her temporarily lose her sight, but her tears of blood stained her face and she barred her teeth. _"I'm not... Telling you..."_

"Withers, I know you will eventually. You hold something absolutely amazing in your eyes—don't let it go to such waste. Please, tell me."

_"I said_ I'm not—" She was cut off as the tentacles still sliding on her injected into her biomass, crawling under her skin and eating away peacefully. She felt it wriggle under her cheekbone and that nasty crack got her wincing again, more blood being spilled out.

"You're going to tell me, or I'll make sure every single square inch of your biomass is eaten up and you'll just leave this world unexpectedly." _Crack_ went another bone and she felt her life start to melt as the munching ropes disallowed her of occasional regeneration, driving her to the road of pure agony and distress. She wouldn't survive this; she could but it was ZEUS. Goddamn ZEUS, Alex's twin, _the fucking virus_ that can slaughter anything it wanted to. Even a 20-foot steel door.

The strength she had been storing was stolen and the muscles pulling her head up relaxed, her calm breathing almost restored as she tried to get used to the squirming. "I don't want any problems between us, _Mercer,_ but kill me and you lose everything."

"You mean, kill you and there's one less Prototype to deal with." She let out a low growl; she really didn't like his personality. But then she realised it was ZEUS.

"Why are you growling, Withers? You know what? Let's make a deal," he circled her, tightening the diameter with every complete circle. "You work for me. That means you get to stay alive and also keep dear Amaya Heller alive as well."

"You can't... You can't do that! That is fucking blackmail!"

"Hush. I haven't finished."

"Has anyone told you that you're an asshole?"

"No, but I'll take that as a complement to my appearance."

_"Who lied to you?"_ The tapping halted and she let a smile wash over her face, even when he hauled her from where she was positioned and slammed her onto the wall. Her face changed, nearly forgetting the tendrils eating her from the inside out and her cheekbone finally stopped gushing out blood.

"If you're trying to piss me off, it worked... You can try and be all stubborn and disregard my comments but it's you who's gonna die... _Now,_ where was I? Oh yeah, let's make a deal. If you work with me, you live. If not, I'll let PARIAH over here kill you."

_"PARIAH?"_ She peered behind him, catching the wave the perfect incarnation sent back at her. He looked so formal yet zombie-like; his dark suit battered but can still be called a suit, his skin as deathly pale as snow in mid-winter and eyes as red as a freshly open cut. She caught a glimpse of his thick threads leaking out of his body and squirmed, stiffening when her backbone gave off the unnatural crack and she stopped trying to survive. His smile triggered her synapses and neurotransmitters to go haywire and whatever her body was doing, it needed to stop and _stop_ right now. But every fibre holding his mind together was copied into hers and more blood discharged out of her tear ducts like Hell's rain. "You can't... Do _this..._ You're gonna pay for this..._ Alex is gonna find me... _And he's gonna_ kick your sorry ass...!"_

Evil Mercer glared at her coldly but doubtfully, grip instantly lost on her neck and she fell forward, already losing consciousness as her body hit the ground. Now satisfied, she felt the tendrils whipping out of her body and leaving behind slick, bloody holes and rips of human flesh. "You can't... _Leave me here..."_

"I'm ZEUS and he's PARIAH; what do you expect? _Unicorns and leprechauns?_ Sorry, Withers, but this is the real world. _Wake up..."_ And with that said, his shoes clicked as he walked with Greene's son, fading into the darkness and she rolled on her stomach, unable to register why she's still alive.

She was gonna die and she felt it, the unbearable burning and aches all over her body and she couldn't even fix her cheekbone let alone the other broken bones in her body. She was gonna rot in this place, life filled with insults and taunts thrown in her face. They weren't gonna find her; they'll forget about her like she was just a dream. Yeah, just a useless, unreliable dream that could be forgotten in seconds. But there was someone in this building that's keeping her heart beating, her lungs breathing and her mind functioning.

Her eyes bleeding. Her bones breaking. Her skin crawling. Her thoughts wandering and wondering.

Amaya Heller.

* * *

**_Is it my cue to say surprise? Well, surprise! I guess..._**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Late Updates call for stressful times. Trying to end this also; I've got so much stuff in my hands that it's kinda weighing me down. I've also realised that the characters in Prototype 1 & 2, with my name, both die which kinda puts me down a bit (lul). Enjoy Reading! ;)_**

* * *

Dana slammed into the bookcase and scarred it, books slipping off the shelves and Alex looked at the assassin in disbelief when she straightened up, smirk on her face. She opened her right palm and the tiny chips in the knife's grip were attracted to the magnets in her glove and flew out of his grasp and into her's, holding it in the reverse grip. "You seriously gonna kill us with a knife? That's not a knife," his biomass looped over his right arm, extending down to his loafers but she didn't drop her guard. _"This_ is a knife."

"If I can kill Brawlers with a blade, I can kill you. It's harder for Prototypes to regenerate while biomass is leaking out of them... Am I right?"

_"Jess, get the fuck out of there!"_

"Can't; smart ass like me dropped our access to everything in here but I'm distracted."

_"Then hurry the fuck up!"_

"Why are guys so demanding? _I said_ I'm distracted." Her reflexes moved her, having her leap over the sofa just as the angry Caucasian swiped for her and slid onto the floor, dodging Heller's big boot. Her eyes flashed, letting out an echo in the room and it bounced off a spot on the floor and she smiled, planning quick tactics. Firing into a sprint, she dive-rolled but failed to miss Dana's Hammerfist as it smacked into her abdomen and she flipped onto her back. Grunting, she rolled and avoided a blade that dented the floorboards and she was almost at the card, until hands gripped her calfs and threw her from under them. Crashing into the table and breaking it, she caught Alex's foot, the added strength pumping in her veins and she blasted him to the ceiling, having him rebound off it. Heller got hold of her shoulders and dashed her head-first through the hole in the wall, watching her grip the brick with her fingers and bounce back in.

"What the fuck are you?" he asked, striking with his claws but missed incredibly as she jumped back. How can he miss? A human versus a Prototype? The math should be easier done then said. But that's if she's human, her reflexes are a bit too fast for an assassin and GENTEK can't suddenly make a type of virus that can only manifest the body, and not everything else on the body. _Or can they?_

"If you stop attacking me then I'll show you." Being him, he ignored her and skewered her with his blade, watching her open her mouth and hold his weaponised arm. But something weird happened and she sent scatters of light to flicker on his blade, causing him to retract his blade and she fell on one knee. A hysterical laugh erupted from her, and her skin started rebuilding itself, cell by cell, tissue by tissue. "I'm not who you think I am," she breathed.

Alex got back on his feet, literally dragged Jessica off the ground and trapped her on the wall with a hand on her throat, her skin cells appearing like a fresh layer. "What are you?"

"No comment."

He repeated his question, applying pressure on her throat and her eyes bulged, hands trying to pry away the vice-like grip. "What are you?"

She clamped her mouth shut and he smashed her head onto the wall, receiving no response except her muting the earpiece. "I can't say... But if you let me go... I'll tell you what you need to know... I know everything..."

"How so?"

"I know where Hazelle is... I know where _Amaya_ is..."

"Maya...?" Heller said, looking at the ebony woman and she haltingly nodded, gritting her teeth when the demon leaned too close to her face.

"Yeah... I know where... She is... But it's not certain... She's been moved alot..."

"And how do you know this?"

"Because I'm... Because I'm an _android._ The only reason why I know so goddamn much is because I'm an android assassin."

"Since when did GENTEK start making robots?"

"Ever since I died in an explosion. _Look,_ GENTEK altered my body to... _This._ They only did it because I was a valuable asset and plus, the League would struggle at some areas."

"The League?"

_"No comment."_

"She's lying," Heller insisted, standing next to his worst enemy and stared in her green eyes, poking her shoulder.

"Why the fuck would I lie about that? You saw how I just blasted Mercer to the ceiling and you think the average human would be able to handle that much weight? _You're having a laugh."_

"She's an android," Alex confirmed, dropping her and left her to catch her breath. "I can tell."

"How can you tell she ain't no Brawler in a costume? Or an Evolved with a disguise?" Heller asked him, looking him straight in the eye.

"She's half robot; who can infect her anyway if she's practically made up of half metal? She's not some sort of _Supreme Hunter_ or anything..." When he trailed off, Jessica gripped his arm and landed a kick square in the chest and he stumbled back, anger getting the better of him. He sent a punch that almost snapped her neck off and she ducked under his other fist, coming up wide eyed. She manipulated the electricity in her body and it sizzled on her fingertips, barely touching Alex as he jumped back in time.

"Who said I'm not an Evolved?"

"Son of a bitch..."

"Remember this, Alex?" she teased him, waving her electrified hand about. "This really wasn't your best friend, was it?"

"What the fuck do you want, Miles?" Dana questioned, biomass becoming more heavier and dense and she pounded her fists together, Hammerfists as the ready.

_"Me?_ Oh, nothing." She fixed her clothes, walked over to the spot where the memory was thrown and picked it up, placing it in a slot in her gauntlet.

"Then why are you here?"

"Just... Being me... I guess. You know what? I just remembered something. Your daughter is safe, Heller, but the people she's with is not so nice."

"How so?"

"Linden Park, black ops, Dennis Wayne. You need that guy to find your solution, he should reveal to you the locations of your daughter and ZEUS. I'll be watching."

_"Wait..._ It can't be that easy."

"Because it isn't. Dennis is an Evolved, he'd be more than willing to fight you but be warned. He kinda has the skill of summoning Hydras."

Dana's voice turned to a little squeal, "Hydras?"

"Yeah. One more thing, I suggest you hurry to go find her. ZEUS is thinking of making her the Mother of the New World as she carries Heller's resilient DNA."

"If you're an android, why do you seem... _Yourself?"_

Her attention was diverted to Alex, who also had his claws out. "Good question. Answer: I'm still the Jessica Miles before, only now, my body has been enhanced by modern technology and science._ What?_ You gonna try and kill me now? You think I'm gonna go kiss ZEUS' ass and tell him where you're hiding? A bit extreme, don't you think?"

"You're an Evolved... We don't trust Evolved."

"Okay, just because I'm an Evolved, you instantly think I'm a threat and try to kill me. I didn't ask for this, so I became defiant and went rouge after ZEUS sent one of his to find me."

"Has he?"

"Nope." Before she could react, the room let out a blinding light that caught everyone off guard; the sound of metal chaffing and harsh breathing clicked in their minds. Once the smoke cleared and their vision wasn't distorted, at least 15 troopers surrounded them, assaults aimed for their heads.

"Great, BLACKWATCH holding bounties over our heads now?" Dana muttered, biomass looping at her fingers again.

"They always have."

_"Fuck it."_ Alex was the first to attack, musclemass able to literally rip the nearest black frame in two and made the ribcage of another cave in. With the anger he was willing to take out on the fools who tried to surprise-attack them, he ran to them knowing that more were on the way. Driving his claws deep in a torso, he grunted as blood sprayed everywhere and darted to another black figure, punching him once and watched him rag-doll to the wall with broken bones.

The gauntlet on the assassin's arm altered, crawling up the lengths of her arms and pierced her skin, creating durable shoulder-guards and a chestplate. She grinned devilishly as she dodged strikes from the opposing side, giving a close trooper a clean roundhouse kick to the face. One of the troopers in black lunged for her, and she kneed him in the stomach and threw him back. His friend made a stupid move and grabbed her hair, making it jerk back and she sent electrons scattering on the strands, sending him to recoil like an assault out of control. Blades shot out of wrist and she became another weapon, hacking and slashing away with flowing grace and felt bullets bounce off her generated shield. That was until someone latched onto her from behind and she screamed, more electricity disorientating her nerves and crumpled to the floor.

Dana's claws came out to play and cleaved three troopers with short, quick swipes and she felt her left arm start to mutate, reflexively blocking a launched grenade with her generated shield pulsing with red and black. Taking care of the grenade launcher operator and realising her new ability with shock and surprise, she looked over at the now unconscious assassin surrounded with dispatched corpses and pounced, killing one of them with a spiked elbow. Moving her attention, she punched the other in the groin and followed it up with an axe kick that broke his back. More feet slapped against the stairs and she turned to the noise, growling when more BLACKWATCH troopers started flooding in. "We need to keep Miles alive."

"Is that an option? Because I'd rather leave her to die."

"Agreed," Alex said, feasting on a half-dead guy and managed to push aside the memories that wanted to haunt his mind.

"She knows where Amaya is. Isn't that why you're with us in the first place?" Heller paused, bullets passing through his torso as he glared at the woman with the silver eyes, identical to the Demon's. He didn't answer, taking care of the annoying pricks that was releasing rounds on him. He used his Tendrils for the Black Hole move, making loose furniture collide dangerously with the vulnerable mortals and swiftly changed to his Blade where he spun like a tornado, extinguishing the last few lives.

_"Guys..."_ The hooded figure stopped moving and had his head up, as if he's discovered something. "It's seems like they've thrown us a surprise party."

"Then I'm staying."

"Dana, I can't afford to lose you again."

"And I can't afford to let intel slip by. She could be the answer to everything."

"I don't have time for an argument."

"This isn't an argument, it's a choice I've settled with."

"Dana!"

"Alex, I'll be fine. Just _go."_ Alex stared at his younger sister with cold eyes and snarled, sprinting for the hole in the wall and climbed up and Heller looked back at her, before joining his 'creator' on the rooftops.

* * *

**_So many enigma codes... Jessica is actually an infected android (if that makes sense) with a humanly disguise, which has been revived by science. Her body, before the explosion had already been infected with the virus but didn't mutate until scientists made her half machine. Oh GENTEK, what else are you gonna make?_**


	12. Chapter 12

_**I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, I know I did and who's counting down for 2013? A few more chapters and we're done... Well, I think so. **__**Revision goes a long way; got a B in my science exam. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

* * *

Alex and Dana had their eyes fixed on the crumpled form in the middle of the room, arm fractured in multiple places, hand shattered and ribs still bruised; Heller was still out there raining hell upon the deployed teams. Broken furniture was littered around her and the stench of human blood rose from the corpses surrounding her. Chocolate skin marked with slices and bruises, black hair a complete mess and the power-gauntlet very close to breaking into fragments of blue, black, grey and multi-coloured wiring. Her sculpted vest was dirty and bloody, leather pants barely concealing her blood by it's dark colour and combat boots left untouched. The woman sighed when she saw her finger twitch to the sound of her 'agent' but the rest of her body didn't respond, the hooded man next to her wore his usual expression. "She's not dead," she gestured towards her.

"I _can_ hear that."

"But still... She should be repairing herself. I mean, if she _'claims'_ to be an Evolved, she wouldn't be on the floor trying to hold her life together."

He neared the assassin and nudged her arm with the tip of his loafer, causing her to roll over on her stomach and Dana spotted two, charred holes on the gauntlet. "One of the troopers had a shock baton. The circuitry must've been fried and affected her also. She _is_ half machine."

"Whatever. Still can't believe GENTEK actually did this to her."

"There were always a bunch of crazy fucks. It ain't nothing new." There was a groan and Jessica's hands moved slowly, palms flat on the ground as she tried to push herself up and her fatal injury burned her chest again. She whined and rolled on her back, Alex giving no hints of remorse as he hooked his fingers in her sculpted vest and hauled her off her feet. Her head was down and her face was covered, and he had to shake her to get her attention but fresh blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth, informing him of something wrong with her body internally. "Why are you here?"

_"I..."_ Every time she paused, she caught her breath or choked on her own blood blocking her airway. _"Didn't want... To cause trouble. You're... Not my targets... I was assigned to... To look for ZEUS and his... Hideout and take whatever is worth something."_ Her eyes were half-hidded with half-life, face coated with small lacerations and a bruise, no bigger than a fist lay on her left temple. How did _that_ get there?

"Why are you still alive? Aren't you, _like you said,_ half Evolved? Even though that really doesn't make any sense."

"I lied, okay? I'm not a cyborg nor am I an Evolved... I'm just a normal person with... Faster-than-normal reflexes. I'm an assassin... I was... Trained to be like this," she raised her top, revealing an enlarged barcode tattooed on her stomach. "To endure this much pain... To survive in such... _Fucked up situations._ I should be dead but I'm not." _Time for the more improtant questions and statements,_ Alex thought, moving his hand and held her throat instead and dropped his free hand.

"Don't tell me you lied about Amaya Heller's location as well."

"She's at GENTEK," she blurted out blankly, not realising her earpiece was still in function. "Scientists were asked to prep her... For a vivisection..."

"Although I really want to, I won't kill you. You're of valuable information in which we'd like to know about... Know the person's name who ordered the vivisection?" She didn't show emotions of fear, happiness or frustration, just defeat. Pure defeat.

"His name is Dennis Wayne... The guy I told you... About earlier. He's at Linden Park, with a bunch of other goons. He's the only Evolved there... So taking care of the rest should be easy. Heller should be able to hunt him, consume him and find out where she is. You should be able to mutate if you stretch yourself, Alex, maybe grant yourself with even more strength or durability..."

"And how am I supposed to 'stretch' myself exactly?"

"The virus can evolve within you; if you push your abilities to the limit, your Blade could be sharper than how it is now, enabling you to slice Brawlers easily. And that's bloody sharp. Your Hammerfists could become spiked, your Whipfist could reach further and your Musclemass could actually lift up alive APCs. All because of mutation."

"What about my Claws?"

"Devastators are much more area-based than trying to target a single enemy."

"How are you knowing this?" Dana intercepted, standing beside Alex and looking Jessica in the eye. Her voice had strengthened with every passing heartbeat, but he heard it falter for a second before returning to it's powerful pulse.

"I do my research. Think of your virus as bacteria. Antibodies may kill off the population but there's one bacterium, _by chance,_ that's standing strong. That's mutated. It has become resistant and as there's no more competition it reproduces, cloning itself and making more antibody-resistant bacteria."

_"Survival of the fittest..."_

_"Exactly._ If you become more resistant, you could end this war. Show everyone in Manhattan that you're not the bad guy."

Alex stayed still for a moment and thought of all the stuff he could do with a lengthened Whipfist and Claws riddled with his strain; that was just a thought. Just like Jessica said, he could become more resistant. More resilient. _More ready._ He unexpectedly dropped her and she fell to her knees, wheezing painfully as he moved from her, his sister following behind. "We need to go."

"And leave her?"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to Dana, who also stopped with him. "Dana, she's given us the information we need. And plus, she just passed out. _Again."_ A wind hit her face when she looked back at the assassin and scowled, diving forward and landing in a crouch. She pressed her palm on the wall and she walked out of the alleyway, spotting Heller walk away from the carnage with his Hammerfists and Dana hummed and rose her brows in surprise.

"Where's Mercer?" he questioned her, biomass curling around his arms and morphing it back to his human limbs.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing."

"Hey, you too!" The pair looked up, glaring at the chopper hovering over their heads and Heller laughed once while Dana shook her head. "Let's go." She charged her jump before releasing, virus-induced muscles blasting her into the air and hopping in the cockpit within one move while he used his Whipfist to zip into the aireal vehicle.

OoOoO

Blue ripples oscillated on Jessica body like a pool of water, her eyes functioning again and she took a deep but silent breath. Flexing her fingers, her contacts flashed once as she examined her surroundings, revealing to her the blood splattered all over the walls and the individuals it came from. Two small holes on her left shoulder got her attention, where the shock baton has been inserted in her skin, and she covered it with her palm as she sat up. She doesn't know how the trooper managed to sneak up behind her, it was the fact that he did and she didn't notice. The League isn't gonna be proud.

She never thought they could be so gullible, surely and possibly Alex must've consumed someone who can read micro-expressions because she couldn't stop smiling. I mean, it wasn't obvious but she felt herself smile every time she answered him. The same message flashed at the corner of her eye: _CRITICAL HEALTH_; but she ignored it and stood, her body forcing her to limp and clutch her injured arm, biomass only healing half of her. _"I need to get out of here,"_ she muttered to herself, stepping over the decapitated figures and walking towards the hole, dropping out of the building. During her first little battle, she tagged all three of them and knew their exact coordinates, her mind telling her that they're not far from her position. She needed to get out of the Red Zone. "Hello?"

_"Phase!"_ It was Hawk, shouting down the earpiece like a lost child. _"What the fuck happened to you?"_

_"Long story..."_

_"I have time!"_

_"I don't..."_ She leaned on the nearest wall and breathed, trying to steady her heartbeat. "Look, I got caught. I got_ caught,_ got into _two fights with the strongest Infected and the fucking para-military organisation_, got stabbed, overloaded with too much electricity and passed the fuck out. _There?_ You happy?"

_"And you're still alive?"_

"What? You can't give up on me that easily, Hawk."

_"I never did."_

"Well, that's surprising."

_"Just return to base."_

"How? I'm all the way in the Red Zone and you expect me to _'silently'_ cross Zones?"

_"Well, you're an assassin. You're always silent."_

"Not this time." She stumbled out of the alley, ears picking up rotary blades and she tilted her head, watching the chopper above her fly away and started walking in the opposite direction. "I need to get repaired, I think something in my arm got fried and I can't retract the gauntlet."

_"Manage to retrieve some files?"_

"Yeah, I did. Files about the wanted Prototypes, the Evolved, PARIAH. All that jazz."

_"Well done, Phase. See? I knew you could do it. I knew you wouldn't let me down."_

"I did this for the League, not for you. And besides, I can do anything." She felt the ground shake slightly and she turned, eyes widening when she spotted an APC with a crowd of troopers coming her way. The biomass that was shrouded by metal forced upwards and sheeted her gauntlet, crawling up her hands and forming glowing claws with neon blue veins. She grinned defiantly, the pain suddenly wearing off as she faced the oncoming ambush. "And when _I say_ anything, I really do mean _anything."_ She darted towards them at speeds nobody would call human and rocketed into the air, preparing herself for the charged elbow drop.


	13. Chapter 13

_**I'm gonna do this for my own sake. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

* * *

She grunted as her claws bit into flesh and fabric of another swarm of BLACKWATCH troopers, automatically switching to her shields just as another couple of rockets failed to stun her. Bolting, she executed some flips and spins a pro gymnastic could pull off, jumping over a bus and unleashing her blade, making it drive it through another trooper just as she hit the ground. Poor guy didn't have time to scream. Ducking in time, she did a butterfly kick, catching the other three by surprise and without looking behind, her foot made hard contact with the concrete and ground spikes barely missed her as it sprouted backwards, fucking up the APC that had its aim dead on her. Her rosy lips stretched in a smile, blade disappearing, and she slowly turned, acknowledging the sheer violence. And she did it by herself.

For some reason, she wanted to embrace this new person with inviting arms. Seeing the city crumble second by passing second... That was painful. She knew if she was to save it, she'll have to change. She calls it her inner demon, her wrath, her little helper. They call it POISON. Though it may have similar traits to BLACKLIGHT, this serum is more resilient and much more tougher, letting her master the balance between infected and robotic. It allows her biomass to not manifest the wiring but work alongside it. But her main purpose, The League has told her, is to eliminate her chosen targets including ZEUS. She agreed but made a promise that if anyone got in her way, she will kill them. Well, looking at this, she wasn't lying.

She started walking through the carnage, spotting an officer with his leg stuck under dead, heavy armour. Tilting her head, she halted and clicked her fingers and the guy's scream of torment fuelled her, the Brawler growling quietly at his meal and it waited for the 'Finish him' before ripping him to ribbons. The earth shook violently, a shockwave blasting vehicles back and amazingly, she lazily slapped a car from her point of view. This guy. This thing caused the city to fall on its knees, praying that it doesn't infect more than it can consume. Crimson eyes sparkled under his hood and he looked up, no emotion printed in his face as a group of people walked in a line behind him. "You don't know what you're doing, Jessica," he said softly.

"Of course I do! You caused this... I made myself a better person. They made me a better person."

"They made you a monster."

_"No..._ You've made yourself a monster. Nobody held a gun to your head and said_ 'I want you to kill everyone responsible.'_ You didn't have to kill people to find the answer."

"Don't try and make me feel like I did something bad. For fuck sake, I lost my fucking memory."

"Well, that's a fucking shame..." She gestured to the environment. "Look at what you did, Mercer. You... Did this. Except for that,_ I did that_ but you... _You_ caused this."

"Phase..." He wanted to shout at her but as much as it angered him, she was right. It may not have been him but Alexander Mercer done this to ZEUS and Alex. Alexander caused the city to go from full of life to full of the undead. But then again, if it wasn't for him, the city would've been a clone of Hope, Idaho. "Phase... I don't want to hurt you."

"Of course you don't... I mean, we're long-lost friends... But I wanted to change all this. All this. So... It starts from killing the host. Once I kill you, every single cell of BLACKLIGHT will wither and the Evolved shall suffer without the help of their leader."

"Jessica, you don't want to do this."

"I'll do this to save the city... And save my friend. You, _Alexander J. Mercer,_ are not my friend." She started running, blade following her from behind and Alex instinctively copied her, mirroring her action. He expected her to attack him with her rendered weapon but she fooled him, Whipfist snatching a chopper from the sky and slamming it on his body. "Pathetic..." She murmured as she watched him kick the aircraft off him, getting up and dusting his clothes.

He blurred, another car thrown hard in her direction and she flipped backwards, metal barely scraping against her skin. She reached for him and missed, instead latching onto a random civilian and she thought hard, poking his neck with her index. Just as ZEUS ran up to her, she dashed him and the Bio Bomb detonated, almost catching the virus by surprise. "Faster," she teased, projecting her own vehicle and watching them collide together to the ground and he flipped the car off his body.

He attempted to strike a punch, but a split second later, decided it was the wrong move to make. She dodged and kicked high, toes hitting his jaw and he was launched backwards. In mid-flip, his Whipfist snagged her fast, whipping her high in the air. Just as she landed, he stomped his foot and ground spikes shot upwards and impaled Phase. She just laughed and as the spikes seeped back down, his arms reaching out to catch her and blood leaked everywhere. "You're much more advanced than before."

"Just learning from the best, coach."

He put her down and crossed his arms as she parted from him and drew in her longest breath. When she was ready, her mouth opened.

Her ear-splitting scream drilled through the concrete, smashing windows and causing an earthquake to the buildings around her. Vehicles were thrown about, passers-by covered their ears as blood dribbled down their jaws, and Alex was pushed off his feet, the sound waves ripping shreds of his clothing off. A truck beeped at her and instead of moving off the road, she picked it up, judged the weight and trajectory and tossed it.

He caught a flying car at the corner of his eye and dive-rolled out of the way, letting his Evolved take the blow instead. "You could've stopped that," Jessica suddenly pointed out, straightening up. "You could've caught that and thrown it back at me... But I guess you care about yourself more than anyone else."

"Take that back."

"Why should I? You're playing everyone, even the perfect incarnation of you. Every single person here is going to either get killed, captured, double-crossed or consumed by the guy they thought they trusted."

"I said take that back!" He darted at her at light speed but she watched carefully, blades causing sparks to fly as she blocked and parried swiftly. His other arm shape-shifted into a Hammerfist, where he charged up before beating it on the ground and the shockwave forced her back, sending her tumbling on the road. She glared down blankly and watched her biomass melt out of her body and she cursed, unable to camp any longer as ZEUS struck again. She jumped lightly over his blade and rolled off his back, cutting low at his midsection and he hissed in anger. She stumbled away from him, red coating her hand and he gestured with a coy smile, blade behind him. She sprinted flat out towards him, thinking that she was victorious until they collided and a small sigh escaped her lips as she moved closer to the Demon, looking up at him with sincere, abiding lime eyes.

"For a virus," she whispered, arm draped off his shoulder as she stared immensely at his scar. "You have a flaw and that is letting human emotions take over your system. You smile, you laugh, you get angry... _Why?_ Because you want to fit in with them? Of course every person you consume has emotions but you need to master that..." He twisted the blade and she cried out, blood painting her lips and she balled his jacket in her fists. "You're not a virus, Mr. Mercer. You're a virus trapped inside Alexander's body, the person who made your life and Manhattan Island a living hell. Before you kill me, think about that. Who are you? What are you?" When she knew he was lost in thought, she gently pulled out his weapon and gritted her teeth as she done so, staggering to one knee.

"What am I?" He finally asked, delicately taking hold of her jaw and she dropped her guard. "I'm the BLACKLIGHT Virus. _Who_ am I? Well, that's for you to decide." In mid sentence, his Evolved joined him as well as PARIAH, who stood casually by his side. She watched her life crumble with cold eyes as tentacles grew off the child's body and as if the tips were heads, they moved about like snakes and searched for her with the eyes it didn't muster. When it did, though, it surged themselves under her skin and Jessica shut her eyes at the right moment, holding her breath.

OoOoO

As they flew over Linden Park, Dana peered down at the little ant people well known as BLACKWATCH waste their time taking down a Brawler, who was batting them away like flies. "Do you see him, Heller?" Alex asked, as he directed the chopper past buildings and over the park several times.

"Yeah, I see that asshole," he commented, 'pinging' once more to pinpoint his glowing target before leaping out of the cockpit and diving forward, the woman beside him not even having the chance to catch the former Sergeant on time. The ground cracked under his boots as cars and civilians were thrown in random directions, the team of troopers already shooting him in shock and fear. He smirked, veering his Whipfist behind him and letting the claws hook into the jeep sitting metres away, before smashing it into Lieutenant Dennis Wayne.

A laugh bellowed from the jeep before it exploded from the ground, and in it's place was an armoured trooper with thin, elongated dual blades for arms. "James Heller, you're about to become dust."

"In your dreams, you ugly fuck." Dana landed on the left side of the black man with claws for hands, Alex on the right with Hammerfists.

"Look at what we have here. Three stupid Prototypes thinking they can kill me. Try all you want but I'm just like you. But even better."

"But dude," Alex informed him, amazed by his own opening sentence, as if he's actually trying to be informal. "You can't be better than me. You might be better than me but you're sophomoric."

_"Sophomoric?_ Man, even you sound stupid when you use big words. On your dying breath, you better thank me for making killing you seem simple."

"Cheeky little fucker, isn't he?" Heller whispered to Dana and she couldn't disagree with him. He did have a valid point.

"Tell me about it." Just before she finished talking, already Alex was crushing the lieutenant with his rendered weapon and the black man was surprised at how he wasn't the first to teach Dennis a life lesson.

He pounded him tediously into the ground several times before he blinked, A Hydra with its red exoskeleton and snake-like body blossoming behind its leader as if it heard some sort of viral song. He swore, trading the Hammerfists for his Blade and managed to steal a couple slashes before flipping backwards. "Plan: Heller, you're gonna deal with this dick. Dana, you're gonna look out for any military units that try and gatecrash."

"And you?" She inquired, turning her head slightly to hear the sound of the synchronised heartbeats of many.

"Gonna go deal with these Hydras. But whatever you do, don't stop moving. They'll either throw random shit at you or pull you closer."

"Got it."

* * *

**_Sorry for ending the chapter like that, education's hitting me in the face again._**


	14. Chapter 14

_**I'm starting to like Dana as a Runner, she seems like a very deadly but an upgraded Prototype. Let's give her more abilities, shall we? Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

* * *

Hazelle sat there quietly like a untouched child, dried blood and carvings decorating the floor and walls of her little prison cell. She didn't move or say anything when she felt the presence of another being standing over her, neither did she freak out or make a smart comment. _"Hazelle?"_

She looked up at the speaker and her neon green eyes didn't bleed like it usually did. It was him, his scar pulsing with defiance and his crimson eyes primitive and intense under his hood. "If you've come here to piss me off," she spoke in a chilling voice. "Then you've chosen the wrong time."

"What? Can't I check up on a-"

_"Prisoner._ Not friend."

"You should be lucky that you're even alive."

"It was never luck. It was destiny. I was destined to be tortured in a way in which I was unable to repair myself. I'm still surprised you let me consume a couple of Walkers."

"You need to be strong for your little assignment."

"What assignment?" He chuckled, moving closer to her and oddly enough, her heart kept the same tempo.

"You only have one thing to do; stand on National Bank and look pretty. Is it that hard?"

"Why? And _don't_ lie to me."

"We need you to lure your little friends in. Seeing as they'll try and save you, we'll jump in and surprise them."

"Fine."

_"Really?_ Wow, kind of a fast response."

"But I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for Amaya. I'm trying to save her life from the homicidal prick that you are. Just because taking someone's child and holding them hostage means fun and entertainment, doesn't mean you won't get fucked up. Life lesson number 1: never _fuck_ with anyone's family."

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood." ZEUS just walked off, Hazelle watching him shrink but she called out to him and intrigued him with a fact of her own.

"My eyes," she said and he stopped. "I'm able to absorb memories from infected beings by looking them in their eyes. Like an limitless connection to the Hivemind; mentally consuming them. Because there's a lot of memories to store, I can't handle it and my eyes bleed. I never knew how to control it so I acted like I was blind. Well, _I was_ for a short period of time."

"I didn't say anything."

"But you were curious, weren't you?"

_"Like I said,_ I didn't say anything."

"I've kept that a secret ever since I became an experiment, I've even lied to Alex and the rest. You're the first person to know. _You're welcome."_

"Just be ready."

"Aren't I always?" He walked off and she smiled to herself, her fear for ZEUS becoming easier to handle. He was like a grenade; you either pull the ring and throw it or go suicidal and keep it in your hands, it's that simple. But she expected more from him, yes, he was in a so-called _'good mood'_ but it didn't seem like himself. More like Alex.

OoOoO

Dana growled in disapproval, her first target being a gunship that decided to disorientate her with its rounds. She peered below it and counted one APCs, 2 groups of 6 troopers wielding grenade launchers and assault rifles and a super soldier. _And BLACKWATCH fails once again,_ she thought, looking from the building beside her to the chopper. She made up her mind and raced up the wall, cracking windows she stepped on and executed an acrobatic move when she reached the top. The gunship had followed her up and she smirked like Alex would as she stared inside the cockpit, the co-pilot hovering his thumb over the red button.

She blasted into the air, red smoke flying out as a shockwave in which she took off, and landed lightly onto the windshield, the cockpit shouting curses. Placing a hand on the nose of the chopper, she dropped and boosted upwards, using her other fist to strike the bottom with a charged blow. The chopper was sent in a fiery mess as it lost altitude, the figure under it bullet-dropping onto a tank with her Hammerfists. Amazed by her own viral matter, she picked up the dead APC and dashed it at a group of troopers.

The gnawing feeling irritated her back and she pivoted with her claws out, pouncing like a cat and tearing two black-clad men to pieces while their firearms clattered onto the concrete. The third one that decided to run away was jumped on and she threw him in the air, sliced his midsection in half as he came down. Her monster tendrils consumed the living matter and she panted, her pierced clothes repairing itself and a new layer of biomass washing over her.

Just as a victory smile touched her features, gloved hands coiled around her leg and flung her metres away, her weight forcing the concrete to make way for her as she slid to a stop and groaned. This metal grinding into flesh noise got her attention and she moved just in time to avoid Orion's boot, Alex's blade cutting into the Hydra but as it started swaying, he didn't finish it. "Dana, consume the Hydra. You'll get the Whipfist."

_"The wha?"_ His arm mutated into this elongated, flexible arm with a thin blade at the end and she marvelled at it, the way he was able to reach for a fleeing civilian and reel her in. He smirked at her and she swapped her rock-like fists for her claws, darting towards the Hydra and only striking its stomach until it started tearing open. It wailed but stopped as soon as her tendrils took control and stored all it could hold before Dana's clothes and skin started shuddering uncontrollably, her claws vanishing and replacing it was a replica of Alex's Whipfist, only there were little silver spikes all up her arm and instead of one blade, two rested at the end. "As much as I want to freak out," she informed him while he tackled the purposely infected brute. "This is actually pretty fucking weird."

"I knew you'd love it. Next Hydra... _Mine!"_ Alex jogged to the next Infected monster and Dana looked at her new, cutting-edge appendage and muted the city noise just to hear more beating hearts. With her Whipfist, she snagged a lonely vehicle and launched it at the incoming troopers, hearing them make painful screams and weird gagging sound from miles away.

"It's just you and me, bitch," Orion said, taunting her with a chest pound and she raised a brow.

"You sound kinda fucked with Heller's voice..." She shrugged, her clothes rolling as her claws came back with it's dazzling entrance. Her shoulders jumped, _"Oh well,_ you're gonna die anyway."

While Dana battled her first Orion soldier, Heller hissed as Dennis' blade hacked across his torso, the lieutenant throwing insults every time the former got hit or failed to block. "I'd be embarrassed if I was your daughter," Dennis mocked as he jumped away from Heller's blade and stabbed him in the chest, sawing it several times before pushing him off. "Aw, did that hurt?"

He stood and let out a shout before raking him with his claws, successfully hitting him with every swipe but the tide of the battle moved as Dennis jumped and slashed with his blades vertically. Heller noticed his sudden move and dashed out of the way in time, the Evolved's blades digging into the ground. "Karma's a bitch so don't fuck with it," the black man told him as he hurled the lieutenant into a crowd of pedestrians by swatting him away with his Hammerfists.

Just as Dennis got up, two figures smacked onto the street, the male rebounding off the concrete and the female cursing as she missed her target.

"Son of a bitch!" she cursed, rocketing into the air and unexpectedly, tendrils erupted from her arms and plunged itself inside the Orion, causing secondary ropes to emerge from his body and catch onto nearby objects. They retracted and Heller twisted his body to avoid a destroyed APC and watched in awe as Orion was badly stunned in the epicentre and Dennis affected and sprawled on the floor. Hearing her grunt as she landed, he marched up to the BLACKWATCH lieutenant and hoisted him up by the throat, the man trying to pry away his hand.

"You gonna die or what?" Heller questioned jokingly, his tattoo embedded onto his jacket glowing red.

"Go to Hell."

"Not so bad for your last words." He threw him onto the floor and stamped on his body, striking charged punches and yelled in anger until automatically, he consumed Dennis and held his head as a heavy migraine developed.

_'Sir, it's her blood... I've never seen such a thing.'_

_'What's in it?'_

_'For a human, her DNA is resilient, just like her father's. Your attempts into making Heller your first Evolved were not successful and instead turned him into a Prototype.'_

_'That's correct.'_

_'Then that means if you were to _infect_ Amaya, she too will turn into a Prototype but far more advanced. Doctor Mercer, she'll be able to defeat every single one of us with one hand tied behind her back.'_

_'Then send her to Dr. Archer... And prep an order on a vivisection.'_

_'Yes, Doctor.'_

He panted when the memory ended and stared coldly at the pool of blood under his feet, just when Dana violently consumed Orion. The last Hydra that Alex was currently attacking fell limp and he put on a confusing look, meeting eyes with the former Sergeant and smirking. _"What..._ What was in that fucking thing?" the female asked the two as she collapsed to her knees and her brother ran to her side, catching her before her body collided with hard terrain.

"Biomass expulsion technology," Alex answered her calmly, realised that he'd never known that and has managed to steal memories from his counterpart. "The side-effects are normal... You'll be okay...?"

"You think?" Her breathing turned calm and steady and her head drooped down, the Demon responding by scooping her in his arms and started to walk the opposite direction.

Heller appeared from above him, standing in his way with his arms crossed, "And where do you think _you're_ going, Mercer?"

"I'm going back to the safehouse. I can't constantly carry all this dead weight around, can I?"

"I never said you should. _Go,_ I'll meet you at Doctor Archer's place."

"Roger that." Heller smiled ever so slightly as soon as the first Prototype started sprinting, the concrete too weak to handle his immense force and crumbling under his feet.

"Time to crash the party."

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**_My schoolhas closed early so I had time to finish this up and post this._**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Sorry for the late update, I've been wanting to finish one of my other stories for some time now. With that (kinda) completed, I can work on this. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

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Alex Mercer had his eyes fixed on his sister, who was asleep on the sofa, so peaceful and calm. He could never do that. _Sleep._ That's what mortals do and he is not a mortal, neither is Dana but she seems to be doing it. Even if he tried, all he'd get is memories from all the people he'd consumed. Some of them would be okay to witness but others felt far too realistic for him to handle. So he decided not to sleep and not to dream.

He sighed, scratching the back of his head with a warm hand, he honestly didn't want to get her into all this mess. PARIAH, Greene's son, has been let out of custody by Dr. Archer and now he's partnered up with his counterpart, which is complete bullshit. He didn't get it, why the true ZEUS? The heartless, sardonic and psychotic side of himself? The one that kept nagging him at the back of his head most of the time to _'kill some blackwatch bitches'_?

Then it all came crashing down on him: ZEUS was the _real_ him, how the virus should be. Alex could experience dreams, emotions, feelings like a normal mortal and it scared him slightly. Still, he was the host of the BLACKLIGHT Virus, and he was designed to... _Well,_ do whatever he fucking feels like.

He sat back and closed his eyes, trying to place the memories of Chad Branning in order since his mind wasn't all in sync, starting from when he got his first kiss to when Alex _'ate'_ him. He was handsome, with curly blonde hair and sky blue eyes but girls saw through him because of his inability to approach them. Most of the time, it was girls that came up to him and he told himself it needed to change. So he joined BLACKWATCH and couple weeks later, he was sent to restrain a Hive with several others. That when Alex stepped in, huge creepy smile on his face as he saw tanks. Motherfucking tanks. He just couldn't resist.

He remembered that clearly, the way he had Chad by the throat as he bolted up buildings and airdashed to victory, the alerts dropping by the second. Man, BLACKWATCH really do give up easily. Chad was cursing wildly, even said some thing Alex couldn't even recognise but in the end, he snapped with neck in one quick move and that was the end of Chad Branning.

Just as he opened them, his eyes dilated, he felt something. Not like an itch that needs scratching but this presence that wasn't meant to be here. He quickly reconnected himself with the Hivemind, purposely blocking out ZEUS' annoying voice and tried to discover something under the controlled mutters. _Nothing._

He instead used his senses, starting with his hearing. He stayed still as he tried to pick up an unknown sound but all he got was the roaring of car horns and tanks grinding into the cemented ground. He stood from his place and wandered to the centre of the room, _okay,_ there was nobody here. Nothing to touch. Nothing to taste. Then chunky splinters of wood sprayed onto his back, a forceful wind that followed it, and then he felt it.

PARIAH had found him. And Dana was sleeping. This was not good.

"Surprise," the suited man said with a mischievous grin on his face, moving at lightning-speed as he struck Alex's back and sent him sprawling to the wall, his nose healing before it got the chance to actually shatter. He thanked himself for finding a new apartment, the other one was permanently scarred. Alex glared up at the man and growled, colliding with PARIAH with enough force to throw him off his feet and went for another strike but PARIAH was fast, side-stepping out of the way.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to collect my prize."

"You're not taking Dana."

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"Her brother." PARIAH's grin grew wider as he blurred past him, Alex growing bored at the fast strikes he sent at him and yawned, simply gripped his blazer jacket and dashed him through the window. He chased him outside, the perfect incarnation having his arm into a blade already and he planned his moves carefully, pushing his biomass to his hands and feeling it become much heavier than a couple of moments ago.

"Hmm, you seem to be a bit stiff Alex," he said, jumping to him and swiping at his chest, his jacket weaving back together with the help of this virus. He pounded his Hammerfists into the ground, channeled biomass emerging as black spikes and darting to PARIAH in a straight line and he could barely dodge, a spike impaling his chest. His speech didn't falter though, "Like your movements actually need a lot of force to deliver a lot of damage."

"If you're trying to piss me off, its working." A figure tore through the air, past Alex and into PARIAH, sending him smashing through buildings. It hissed, rolling its shoulders and Alex only realised now who it was. "Dana..."

"What did I miss?" She smiled, Alex's eyes lighting up as she went to look into the gaping holes she made. He didn't want to get her into all this mess but she was very capable. But not capable to battle PARIAH, one wrong move and it's all over for her.

"Nothing. Dana, go help Heller. He could use it."

"Really? What about you? He could kill you. Rip you into bloody bits."

_"Kill,_ what a very powerful word. Let's change that to _suppress_. Yes, he could _suppress_ me."

"I'm being serious, Alex. I don't want to lose you again."

His tone turned serious, "You won't. Now go, I got this." She glared at him before running into his arms, a sigh escaping his lungs as he stepped back. He started to like this, the whole hugging thing, and coiled his own arms around her. "I'll be fine, I promise."

Metal sliced through the air and Alex jumped with Dana still clinging onto him, landing atop a building and she let go, smiling thinly before turning on her heels. He started screaming, an inhuman scream too, and Dana looked back at her brother and watched him hold his torso, weakening to his knees.

She gasped when hands covered her mouth and she fought for resistance, elbowing her attacker in the face until their grip relaxed, enough for her to reach behind her and toss them over her head. "Alex!" She yelled, crouching in front of him and held up his head, his eyes not mustering that natural, lively glow it usually had. "What the fuck did you do to him!?"

PARIAH was back and his clothes were covered in tears, red eyes still bold and demanding but she didn't dare turn a blind eye to him. "Because he was stupid enough to not sever the link between him and the Hivemind and I was clever enough to find him through that, I used it to my advantage and took over his mind."

_"Hivemind..."_ She muttered to herself. "Stop it! Let him go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Miss. Mercer." He clenched his fist and Alex screamed again, Dana's heart splintering at the sound of her brother's distress.

"I said stop! Right fucking now!"

"Or what?" She became silent as her right arm melted into viral flesh and metal, flicking her rendered arm behind her and half-smirked.

"I'm just gonna have to deal with you myself."

"I dare you." She sprinted but this time PARIAH couldn't follow, as she pushed him past the edge at the last second but he latched onto her, bringing her down also. They wrestled in the air, the true form of the virus piloting her to go down first but being fast, she kicked him out of grasp and when he landed, the stored kinetic energy formed into a shockwave that pulsed outwards, destroying everything weak enough in its radius. As soon as she landed, he ran to her with a grimace on his face and she jumped up on his chest, spun in mid-air and cleanly chopped off his arm. He wobbled back and breathed heavily, holding what was left of his arm and glared at the woman, her blade now slick with his blood.

"We can do this all day, PARIAH."

"This would've been quick... But now, _now_ I'm gonna make you suffer." He ran off, the severed hand turning into a pool of biomass and she shook her head, not even bothered to go chase after him. There was a soft groan and she peered upwards, rushing up the building and catching Alex before he fell on his side. Looking in his eyes again, the sparkle began to brighten.

"Alex, _Alex,_ can you hear me?"

"What happened?"

"PARIAH controlled your mind via Hivemind. You didn't cut the link."

_"Shit..._ Because there was no time. I felt him coming. Like a tidal wave in a swimming pool. Where is he?"

"Gone for now."

"What did you do to him?"

"Cut off his arm. See, you _need_ me Alex and you can't deny that."

"Maybe so but we have other small problems." Alex's brow jumped and she looked, two Brawlers steadily closing in on their prey as their elongated tongues lapped aimlessly between their sharp teeth.

"Can't we just run?"

"Yeah, that's a better idea."

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**_Oh, Alex. About time PARIAH fought the Mercer siblings, don't you think?_**


	16. Chapter 16

_**Yes, this fight will be based on the actual boss fight with Dr. Archer (I've altered it a bit). I left this fic aside because the support I'm getting is more than I expected so thank you to every person who's read this. Now, I'm back; time to start the chapter. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

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Dr. Karen Archer had too much stuff on her hands, not forgetting that her boss had her on a tight leash. Having to infect all that Whitelight, making sure that his blood culture infected every single drop so that he can manipulate it to his standards, it was all so stressful. So this is what it's like being Mercer's bitch. I mean, look at Heller; Mercer created him but you don't see him kissing his ass.

Archer thought hard, quickly scribbling notes down in her little notepad but she couldn't help but smell this awful scent. It was just a whiff amongst the rest of the air around her, but she noticed it. Thinking it was something else, she got a file out from the drawer beside her and scanned it, her throat burning. She coughed hard, watching this faint green gas transmit from the ventilation unit above her and she staggered to the glass window. Someone had purposely destroyed the canisters containing stored chemicals and it was practically killing her.

She stumbled outside her office, a hand to protect her nose and mouth and a BLACKWATCH trooper caught her at the wrong time. "Doctor," he called out to her but she pretended not to hear his calling, gradually making her way to the button of the ventilation system. With a hard press, the large rotary blades designed around the open lab spun rapidly in fixed positions, sucking away the contaminated air and replacing it with fresh air that can be inhaled and won't cause her to choke to death.

"Emergency ventilation initiated."

"Doctor!" the soldier repeated again, making his approach more demanding by placing a rough, gloved hand on her shoulder. "I will drag your ass to safety if I have to." If you have to, huh? She, instead, took a more subtle yet surprise approach as biomass shuddered on her arms in curling tendrils and pivoted, skewering the armoured man with her glowing blade. She moved it horizontally a couple times, the chokes and splutters emitting from the gas mask and she stepped back, easily finishing him off with a wipe sweep.

Peering at the corpse she had split in two, she pointed at Heller who had dropped his disguise, "It was a mistake to come here." Leaping towards the man, she quickly got her first strike, hearing the sound of flesh ripping as she fiercely hacked for his torso. He grunted before booting her away from him, shifting pounds of biomass to his fists and repeatedly smashed the ground, small but deadly spikes erupting with every hit.

"You're nothing, Heller," she taunted him, avoiding a battered table with a weak swat. "You're less than nothing." Heller muttered under his breath as he attacked her with his claws; these Evolved really don't know how to fucking shut up. He quickly side-stepped as he barely avoided being sliced by one of her blades but realised he timed his action wrong; she spun and struck him with her other rendered arm, sawing his ribs before dashing him to the other side of the lab. The former Sergeant undoubtedly regained control as soon as both his feet smacked into the wall and he flipped off, shaking his head as a taunt and continuing the battle between the two.

Finally thinking ahead of her rather than head on, he brought out his Whipfist and whipped it towards her, getting the appendage around her throat and reeled her in. But as soon as she was close enough, with his other Hammerfist just slapped her away and sent her sprawling like a tattered rag-doll. He thought he actually injured her enough to consume her, as she clumsily got out of the crater in the ground but in fact, she charged up and let out a ringing call. Two Brawlers forced its way in from the rooftop, debris slapping onto the floor, and joined its master, who wore a devilish smile on her face. "Pay close attention," she told him, flicking her dual-blades behind her. "You're about to learn your last lesson."

"The fuck?" He simply replied, having to go in defence mode and block the Brawler's powerful but casual swipes with his shields. He changed tactic and his blade was whistling again, growling as every swing sent blood spraying in clean directions. Both Brawlers couldn't help but tease its prey, jumping back and forth like lunatics and it was obvious to Heller that these ones were smart. Where the fuck are they? He questioned himself, aerial-flipping over a beast and went to deal with the other, grabbing its head and smacking it on the ground.

A hooded figure zipped towards Archer at the speed of near-light; if she were a human, it would've looked like they teleported. He gave her a quick back kick that sent her painfully bouncing away and Heller scowled. "About fucking time."

"Hey, hey, for your information Mr. Heller, we were busy-"

"It's not his fault," Dana told him, cutting Alex off swiftly with a hand and he rolled his eyes. "We were attacked by PARIAH."

"But before we start discussing and you start bitching," Mercer said, turning back to glare at a really pissed off Doctor. "Let's deal with this first. Dibs on the crazy scientist." Before Heller could protest, Alex was already battling Dr. Archer, watching the two trade feints and reversals, and he sighed.

"Heller!" Someone called out and he peered over his shoulder, diving away from the clawed paws of the Brawler that charged him and swung around his viral blade, slashing the beast across the stomach, and it howled. Glass shattered and the hooded demon distracted himself from the fight, noticing someone was missing from the trio. Then he realised the Brawler was laughing.

"Dana?" He said, perfectly timing a reverse roundhouse to the Evolved's face. "Dana!"

"Relax," Heller told him, now on his second one as the first lay in pieces, in a pool of its blood. "I bet she's fine."

"Can't her brother be concerned?"

"Since when are you ever concerned?"

Dana reappeared from the has-to-be-demolished-by-now office with a red barrel over her head. "I heard my name."

Alex smirked, dodging the edged metals with small sidesteps back. "Nevermind..." He groaned in annoyance; she was trying so hard to kill him, which was amusing. "Heller, time to end this."

"Right behind ya," the black man said, touching backs with his ally. The female Runner shrugged and dashed the barrel at the group of Brawlers, who seemed to have oddly doubled in numbers.

"Guys, what are you thinking?"

"Devastator," they said in unison and took a step forward from their spot, gathering the untouched volumes of beating biomass in their frames. Summoning their anger, revenge and hatred Heller forgot the signature stomp and both let go, red-black tentacles shooting out like bullets and causing chaos to the obstacles in its path. Finally feeling empty, the ropes were reeled in and the whole lab was filled with rivers of blood, scattered scrap metal and harsh breathing.

"Next time," Dana suggested as she emerged from her hiding spot and hopped the rail. "Warn me when you explode like that."

"We did. We prepared the Devastator. That's a warning enough."

"I don't even know what the fuck you two just did."

"You'll find out one day, Dana. One day."

"Hey, you... _You bastards..."_ The three raised their brows at the defected scientist, pulling herself to her feet and Dana glared at Heller.

"She's all yours," she said, gesturing to the Evolved and he half-smirked, darting towards her and quickly recoiled away from the sharpened weapon and swung heavily, Dana not even retorting in disgust this time for Archer had been sliced in two. Heller's appendage formed his arm and he held his head, the well-known painful storm of memories brewing in his mind.

_"You're lucky Dr. Mercer hasn't killed you or that little girl yet. I'm still surprised Heller hasn't come yet."_

_"I'm just saying,"_ Hazelle told her, tightly holding Maya while she sobbed on her jumper. The atmosphere was cold and dark, and Archer was standing at the entrance of the vault door beside Gracie Myers. She must be in the National Bank. _"Lock us up… And people are gonna be pissed."_

_"Don't forget you're a part of this too."_

_"Only to protect Maya, not to seek euthanasia."_

_"Keep talking, Runner, you'll be dead before you know it."_

_"And so, will, you, Karen."_

Heller shook his head violently, his hands and face tightening but he gave up, and dropped to his knees. Dana stepped but her brother held out is hand, and just by looking in his silvery eyes, she knew not to try and comfort a pissed off Heller. His head rose, his brown, sinister eyes falling on Dana, then Alex, who wore this vengeful gaze.

_"I know_ where they are."

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_**I know it seems like it's drifting but I'm gonna make sure the fight scene (Dana vs Evolved, Pariah vs Heller, Alex vs Alex) will be as perfect as possible. Stay tuned for it.**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Okay, everyone, I've tried so hard to get this perfect. Now, right here, it's survival of the fittest. Predator vs. predator. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

_**P.S. There's gonna be a lot of jumping from one person's view to the next, so just be prepared.**_

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She stood there on top of the National Bank, the cold wind licking against the tip of her nose and she sighed, her biomass the only warmth she could muster, not even her jumper was acting like a thermal. She didn't like this one bit yet agreed to the plan, this was suicide, this _is_ suicide. Waves of torment caused her to shudder, collapse to her knees and blinked, a tear falling down her face. No, she wasn't crying, but about what? That she was gonna die? To be honest, she wished all this shit didn't even start. She liked it better when she never knew the truth about herself.

Her sense of hearing picked up heartbeats and she froze, her luminous, lime eyes catching the trio sprinting flat out towards her, the former Sergeant in the lead. _Without purpose._ Of course they had a purpose. They were gonna kill them, or even worse, _her._ She lied and now it was time to face the stone cold truth. _Now or never._

OoOoO

Heller growled as he made contact with the bank's rooftop, almost surprised to find Hazelle just kneeling there idly with her head down. Alex and Dana were visible to her a second later, and Hazelle already knew things were going to plan. "Withers," Dana said, stepping to her. "What the fuck happened to you?"

The only words she managed to gather were pushed out of her throat in desperate mutters, _"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."_

"You have eyes...?"

"Dana," Alex informed her, taking a firm hold of her arm. "Move! _Now!"_ Picking up the sound of rushing feet, her mind worked slower than her limbs as her feet moved her back with her brother, Evolved hopping over the rail with their yellow, orange or red glowing blades. Alex's lip rose in distaste when he saw himself enter the makeshift battlefield last, alongside PARIAH, who seemed to be always smiling.

ZEUS held out his palm as he commandeered his team of infected men and women, and that was when Heller started talking. Or shouting, more like.

_"Where's Maya?!"_

_"Safe,"_ Alex's twin replied, with that hint of humour to his voice. "For the moment." It was clear that he was trying to piss Heller off and deep down, Alex tried to suppress his own reactions.

"You're gonna tell me, either on your own or after I _skull fuck you,_ and drain the memories out the hole." By now, Heller's arm had mutated into his blade but his other hand changed too, forming his first the four-digit razors.

ZEUS chuckled, "Huh, scary. You just don't get it do you? I gave you everything. And this is how you come to me." He started pacing up and down his line of lieutenants, his hands doing gestures. The Hivemind was orderly silent, all the Brawlers, Juggernauts, Flyers and Hydras waiting for that one word. They were about to unleash hell onto every frame in the Red Zone, friendly, BLACKWATCH and GENTEK too.

"Can't you understand what I'm doing? Humanity is stagnant. Dying! I would give it one body. One mind. Think about it; no more conflict. No more diseases. No more suffering. Don't you see? I'm giving it a _second chance!"_ In triumph, he balled his hands and threw it in the air, and Heller exploded into an outburst of cussing, moving towards the man that killed his wife and forcefully pointing at him with his blade.

_"Enough_ of your f_ucking weird, fucking rambling, shit!_ _Give me my daughter!"_

"No...," he said calmly, shaking his head. _"No._ I don't think so. It's time you gave me something! You see, young Amaya shares your brand of annoyingly resilient DNA. And when she's ready, your daughter will become the mother of the New World! So now the only thing standing between me and Earth's true destiny..." His crimson eyes flashed under his hood and his lips stretched in a devilish smirk. _"Is you."_

PARIAH and several Evolved instinctively leapt out of the way just when ZEUS grew monster tendrils on his arms and firstly drove it into Sabrina Galloway's chest, the ropes withering around her torso and she cried out, not expecting her own biomass to fail her. She gave up on it, forcing it into the next nearby Evolved, which was in fact Hazelle, and just like that his victims were chained together. He performed the same action with his other arm, the unexpected including Gracie Myers and Roland having to endure this slow, painful fate.

When he felt like he covered enough bodies, he clenched his muscles and drew it all in with one fierce _"Ha!"_, and the faces of the innocent and deadly were consumed and stored in ZEUS' memory bank of DNA and past experiences.

"Holy shit," Heller muttered as he joined the twosome and the sky was doused in dark choppers as they took out Flyers surrounding the building, and tried to take them out too. Preparing for the battle of their lives, Alex traded power for speed as his Whipfist was tossed behind him then reeled back, and Dana traded strength with reaction time as her claws whistled in the air. Alex and Heller moved, leaving Dana to tackle the rest of the Evolved.

The real host of Blacklight stood metres away from the synthetic one and knowing himself, Alex was taunted, "Well, let's get this over with, shall _we?_" ZEUS flicked his blade beside him and grinned, Alex bringing up his guard as he tried to strategically read his counterpart's movements. At once, he charged up and spun rapidly, using his blade for a tornado-like attack and Alex had to vault out of the way to avoid getting hit a fourth time.

During mid-jump, he twisted and hurled his bladed, well-formed tendril at him, managing to get it around his neck. But as he touched solid ground, ZEUS forcefully drew him in and used Alex's forward momentum to drive his blade through his torso. He chuckled once, shoving his other half on the floor, "Did that hurt?"

Alex knew it would be stupid to answer such a ridiculous question, of course it bloody hurt. It didn't matter if almost everyone has having their faces smacked onto the rooftop or being man-handled was invincible, they still felt pain, and it did take Alex a while for him to regain his posture.

Heller screamed in rage as he swiped with his blade, PARIAH casually leaning away from the violent attacks and spun away from his wide sweep. The perfect incarnation planned his moves carefully as he struck his opponent with his claws, one paw swinging after the next. Heller went to reach for his ripped blazer but he hopped back, which angered him. "You keep hopping around, I'm gonna rip your spine outta your mouth."

PARIAH almost chuckled, "You really are a crude person, aren't you?" The black man growled and sprinted flat out towards the redhead, only to flinch slightly when an Evolved was dashed in his path, and into the trap of dark ropes. He turned his head, finding Dana smiling at him before ducking under an orange blade and booting its operator away.

She spun away from a roundhouse and counter-attacked by sweeping the woman's balancing leg and almost instantly spearing her with her claws, this immense migraine coming on. Doing her best to dim the pain, she opened her eyes to find the woman not there anymore. Swearing, she rolled away from the pointed edge and stood, catching a glimpse of her brother fighting himself, both equally able to maul each other to death.

Ducking in time, she swapped her claws for tendrils and targeted one of the leaping Evolved for the Black Hole attack, the secondary cables managing to latch onto an attacking chopper. Her features didn't retort in disgust as she watched the frame in the middle being flattened to death by his two friends, a chopper and several cases of ammo that were littered on the rooftop. Dana aerial flipped over another Evolved before pounding her bare fists on the floor, the shockwave powerful enough to knock back everyone within her radius.

Alex moved speedily, getting in focused cuts and slashes that did start to piss ZEUS off, but then time stopped. Silvery eyes glared upwards and the scarred man came down like a flipsaw, Alex just about dodging in time. Finding his blade stuck in the cemented ground, he took the chance to beat him down with his Hammerfists, one sickening thud after the other. Kicking him away, he said, "Keep talking."

By now, ZEUS was covered in his own blood and was hesitant when he got to his feet. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand while a fresh layer of biomass was generated, and chuckled, the length and appearance of his right arm shifting. "Impressive, me. Let's see how well I can adapt." He tossed his Whipfist in front of him before snapping it back, the blades catching onto another hovering helicopter, who was too busy shooting flocking Flyers to notice that it's been externally hijacked. "Here, catch."

Alex timely focused his attention on the launched chopper and with the propulsion of his biomass, he flipped over it and heard it crash into the rooftop and daintily, he landed and brushed off his jacket. "Nice try." Unexpectedly, ZEUS slammed into Alex and he grunted as he painfully rolled backwards, his ribs starting to repair itself and punctured lungs stitch itself up as soon as he stopped on his back.

"Come on Heller," PARIAH taunted him as he jumped away from the flying blade. "You could be the grandfather of the New World."

"Now I know you're just tryna make me mad." The Son of Greene leapt into the air and went for an aerial slash, but Heller seamlessly changed his arms into armour, immediately stopping his action and left him stunned, giving him the chance to pierce and diagonally rip his chest. "Dumb-mother-fucker!"

PARIAH strained himself to get off the floor, crimson splattered all over his body and his head wavered, red, marble eyes fixed on his enemy. He smirked, "Now you've just pissed me off." He generated his Hammerfists and thumped them together, all while red smoke was emitting off his clothes. His human hands were back and he gave out a silent call when he outstretched his arms, and Heller stepped back once as all the Flyers surrounding the bank came together as an infectious fleet.

He thought quickly, lifted a boot and brought it down with extreme force, tendrils expelling out of his torso and ending the minimal lives those Flyers carried. As soon as the thick worms of biomass retreated, the intensity of the battle heightened once more as he barely dodged black groundspikes. "Faster, Heller. Faster!" the suited man cried in tormented pleasure, watching the blade change into his Whipfist.

Heller, tired of PARIAH evasive dives and lingering strikes, enduringly caught him at the apex of his leap and his rock-hard fist connected with his face, leaving him overwhelmed. Shoving his back onto the rooftop, the former Sergeant hammered his foot onto the concrete and out burst a spike, tearing through PARIAH's chest cavity. The perfect incarnation weakened against the groundspike and his head dropped back, eyes half-lidded as he gazed at the now darkening sky. "I'm gonna enjoy watching you die," he told Alex's twin, just as Dana finished cutting up her last Evolved into ribbons and joined his side.

ZEUS' stored biomass was running low and he needed to consume something, anything, but there was no time for that as Alex slowly forwarded him, forcing him to stand and coils of tendrils repaired his lacerations. He rocketed into the air and mightily came down blade first, but Alex was tactical and silver plates formed on the top layer of his biomass, the edged metal striking nothing but dull armour. Quickly grabbing his bladed mutation of an arm, he casually aimed for the upper limb and severed it, blood spraying onto his jacket. The scarred man staggered back but kept pressing on as his bloody stump extended into his Whipfist and tried to snag onto his counterpart, only for him to catch it with his bare hands and drew him in. He stumbled towards Alex and heard the unnatural metal slicing flesh sound and growled, spinning around and facing his doppelganger. Alex suddenly screamed in agony and Dana glared at PARIAH, his eyes closer and a warm smile on his face, and her brother crumpled to the floor, giving ZEUS enough time to finish him off.

"No!" she called out, Heller reacting by kicking PARIAH's head and Dana jumping in front of the hooded demon, flipping her palms up. Leisurely, she was back-fisted so hard her world rocked, and was sent tumbling to the side, not moving an inch as she lay flat on her stomach, her biomass humming.

Growing Hammerfists, Alex recovered rapidly, rendered his own and held them up just as ZEUS came down with a charged slam, disorientating his next move and gripping the muscles. Violently, he began to wrench it off in a vertical motion, ZEUS unable to do anything about it and when his biomass found purchase, the limbs were ripped off. Finally giving up, he stumbled back and reduced to his knees, Alex advancing him and placing his hand on his throat like a skin-tight vice.

"Huh." He looked up with shiny, crimson eyes and smirked, the plates vanishing in a wave of black and red and silvery eyes stared down at himself. It was like looking into a cracked, evil mirror. "Welcome back to the top, Alex."

In a fit of vengeance, hatred and frustration, Alex Mercer struck ZEUS with his claws, every rake whipping off a layer clean off. Dana Mercer covered her eyes at the grotesque view, and James Heller watched with a cold stare.

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_**I swear, I wanted to write more but my mind went blank when I though of another Alex/Zeus and Dana/Evolved scene. Guys, it's not finished yet. Please review, beautiful people, and stay tuned.**_


	18. Epilogue

_**Well, what's done is done. Now, time for the aftermath. Enjoy Reading! ;)**_

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Alex fell on his knees, arms cradling his stomach, as the feeling of finally fusing with the real him started to take effect. He saw what ZEUS saw, felt what he felt, watched what he did. The rage that seduced his actions, the wrath that decided his choices, the truth that defined who he was. BLACKLIGHT. The walking abomination had finally been captured and consumed by his light-side self, but he didn't feel whole enough. Then this gravely noise grew from the depths of his throat and his teeth barred, red smoke accumulating off his leather jacket and the tribal motif glowing white-hot.

He could barely hear the sound of his younger sister, worried about his health state. Everyone was screaming, chanting, dying in his ears, and he couldn't bare the wails of that. _"Go..."_ He grunted, using her as support to get up on his feet. "Go with Heller..."

"Alex—" He didn't even let her finish; he spoke with quick communication so his listener couldn't be taken away by a distraction.

"I said go, _now!"_ His crimson eyes flashed and Dana stepped back in horror, her soft hands cupping his face and tilting it to the right.

"Why do you..."

_"What…?"_

"Are you my brother or the monster that _destroyed_ my brother?" There wasn't any time to negotiate with his blood, as he gently pushed her away and motioned his hand, pointing in the direction in which Heller had headed.

_"Dana..._ I need you to go with Heller. Stay with them in the bank vault."

"I'm _not_ leaving you."

_"But you can't—"_ He doubled over and balled his hands, her instincts moving her away from the contagious, ticking time-bomb. And when it went off, Dana jumped and rolled away from him, the force sending her off the edge and she barely grabbed the gloved hand that shot out the window, the worms flying past her in huge, cylindrical masses.

Alex just released his trembling biomass with little trouble, his arms shifting into tentacles and four more exploding out of him, his deafening scream heard from miles away. Even the remaining choppers that watched the hooded man's carnage had whipped off their headsets in agony and displeasure. It stretched through the Red Zone and even the Dead Zone, instantly 'eating' anything with the same virus as itself and just when it reached the island's perimeter, it retreated back into the host. He fell to his side, and all the ache and the craving for consuming was wiped away from his face.

His face had a soft glow, the scar that his sister mentioned formed a clean layer of skin and his thin lips curved into a delicate smirk. The virus that had threatened New York Zero into extinction had now been given back to its rightful owner, and the Sergeant that had believed for his dear daughter to be dead, had finally reunited.

OoOoO

_4 months later…_

He strode to the building that was once known as Penn Station, carelessly ripping the metal barricades that kept the interior inaccessible and looked behind him before advancing in. His fingers glided against the walls of the station, this dark sheet sprouting onto the cracked surface and he growled, his head snapping to a dent in the marble floor. Stepping in it, he closed his eyes and inhaled, breathing in the scent of sweet death and his crimson eyes were revealed, glaring at the swaying clock above him.

Knowing there was several security cameras, he gathered biomass into his hands and charging the compressed ball, he let go, coating every inch of the station with his strain. ZEUS had promised him that he will kill Alex Mercer, and failed, so his work here wasn't quite done yet. And if he wanted to kill the man that consumed this mother, he needed control, power. A new virus.

REDLIGHT.

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_**I know; I had to end it on a cliff-hanger but imagine a Third Outbreak, but with the REDLIGHT Virus... We're all doomed. That's it, thanks to everyone who enjoyed it, who didn't (I'll improve) and I hope I make more fics like this one. Until next time, Prototypes! ;)**_


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